The Dragon's Present
by Melinda Malfoy
Summary: When Lucius ask Draco what he wants for his 16th Birthday, Draco request Ginny Weasley. While Draco desperately tries to earn Ginny’s admiration, Ginny plays a game of deception, seduction, and immense wit to escape. Not a smutfic!
1. Chapter One

          The Malfoy manor, home of Draco Malfoy, was certainly a site to behold.  The house appeared to glare down upon its vast grounds, and even on the sunniest days of July, the land looked forbidding.  Today, the activities taking place inside the house matched the manor's character perfectly.

A malicious grin played upon Draco's lips when he thought about what he should do.  Earlier, his father had approached him to inquire what he would like as a sixteenth birthday present.  At first, he didn't know what he wanted. There were plenty of small odds and ends that he would like but he could get those from other relatives.  His father's gift was always expensive and often very rare.  Last year, for example, he had received a time turner, and the year before that, an invisibility cloak.  This year, though he didn't yet know what, he _did_ know that he wanted something very unique.  He had been pondering this decision for over an hour before it came to him; he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it sooner.  He wanted the girl.  She was undoubtedly a very rare gift, but he had faith in his father to get him whatever he desired, and desired he did.  Yes, the girl would be just perfect. He left to inform his father of his decision.

            "Father," Draco said walking into Lucius Malfoy's private study where Lucius was enjoying a glass of wine, "I have decided what I want."

            "Have you?" Lucius said taking a sip, "And what might that be?"

            "I want Ginny Weasley," he said taking a breath.  He was worried that his father would scoff at him for desiring trash like a Weasley.  Lucius raised a questionable eyebrow at his son.

            "A Weasley?" he asked him, his voice dripping with superiority at the mere mention of the name.

"Yes father, but I won't pretend to harbor any real feelings for the girl.  What I feel for her is pure desire."   Draco supplied quickly and it wasn't a lie either.  If he had wanted a real, two-sided, relationship there were plenty of Slytherin girls he could date, but there was something about Ginny Weasley that made him desire her.  He knew it was beyond reason, but that hair was so tempting.  The way it flowed gracefully around her shoulders, and the way it glowed when the candle's hit it just right in the Great Hall drove him insane.  Or, perhaps it was because she was so innocent, or his need to conquer her obvious crush on Potter.  For some reason, Draco Malfoy wanted Ginny Weasley.

            "Very well son, you can have your Weasley slave."  Draco nodded smiling slightly, and returned to his room.

            Lucius watched his son's retreating figure.  Truthfully, he couldn't have been more delighted at the boy's choice.  Taking Arthur Weasley's youngest daughter would be quite an enjoyable task indeed.  He considered the best way to obtain the girl and finally decided that the best, and truly only way to get her was to Apparate into that shack they called The Burrow and steal the girl right from his bed.  He could use a special, rather dark spell, to take her back with him to the Manor.  It was a shame the Dark Lord had plans for the entire Weasley's family; otherwise, taking Ginny Weasley could be a rather large fun affair.  He smiled, there were so many Ministry members under the influence of the _Imperious _that he could keep the Ministry at bay for as long as he liked.  He may even be able to lead the search himself.  He chuckled to himself.  Yes, this would be quite the game.   

Later, well into the night, Lucius took one last sip of the wine he was drinking, put down the cup, grabbed his wand, and apperate right into Ginny Weasley's room. 

Ginny was on the verge of sleep.  Her thoughts, like always, were on Harry Potter.  In a week's time, Harry would be staying at The Burrow with them.  The times he spent at the Burrow always aroused mixed emotions within Ginny.  On one hand, they were always full of blushing and embarrassment, yet on the other, when she and Harry were cramped into only the small spaces permitted by The Burrow, Harry was never far from her. Unlike Hogwarts where Harry was always busy and occupied, at The Burrow he had no choice but to be near her.  

"I'll get to fall for me, Harry," she said in a sigh and turned over, only to see a dark figure standing over the bed.  She recognized the black robes and mask of that of a Death Eater, but she hardly had time to scream.  The next thing she knew, slim fingers were around her mouth to stop her from calling for help, and the unknown Death Eater was holding her tightly to him.

He said a spell Ginny had never heard of before and the room around her begin to rapidly deteriorate another room appeared in it's place, this room, however, was quite ornate.  She was obviously in a Grand House of some sort.

"Where... where am I?"  She asked the Death Eater, and then a million other questions sprang to mind.  "Who are you?" she asked, "Why am I here."

The Death Eater took off his mask to reveal himself.  Ginny let out a scream when she recognized Lucius Malfoy.

"You, my child," Lucius said with a chuckle, "are at the Malfoy Manor, and you'll be our guest for a time."

"Why?" she asked harshly despite her fear.

"You'll see," he said with a cool arrogant smirk, then turning on his heals, he shut and locked the door.  Ginny fled to the door to try the handle.  It wasn't as if she was expecting it to open but instinct made her do it.  She cursed Mr. Malfoy for taking her without her wand, and then just because she could, cursed the ministry for not letting her do magic during the summer so she would have had her wand with her.  There was, however, a window out of which she could see that the horizon was beginning to lighten.  She considered jumping out of the window, but upon closer examination, it was revealed that the fall would be at least two stories. She surveyed her choices.  Let Lucius Malfoy have his way with her, or the ground.  The ground, she decided after remembering all of the horrid things she had heard about the Malfoy's, seemed to be a more pleasant choice.  Taking hold of her determination, she opened the window and prepared to jump.  Gathering all of her courage, she closed her eyes and pushed herself through the open window.  At least that's what she intended to do; unfortunately she hit something hard, some sort of barrier.

"Windows are not made for jumping!"  A voice rang out.  Nearly in tears, Ginny slouched against the wall, there was nothing to do now except wait and hope.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter 2  
  
Ginny looked around at the room she had been thrown into after being at the Malfoy Manor for a day. She began to pace back and forth again taking in her surroundings. The room differed greatly from the previous in scale, yet still appeared expensive. One question kept plaguing her mind, what could Mr. Malfoy possibly want with her? She stopped her pacing in horror when she saw a Firebolt leaning against the wall, along with a long, green, Slytherin Quiditch robe. She must be in Draco's room. Wheels slowly began to turn in her head. Wheels that she wished would stop. Lucius really didn't have a need for her. Draco however might. She had seen him looking at her in the corridors. Maybe she dindn't know much about boys, but she knew a degrading stare when she saw one, and the stares Draco gave her were most definitely degrading. She glanced at the bed, it was a four-poster adorned with blue and black hues. The wheels continued to turn, forming a horrible truth. Suddenly the door burst open, and Ginny found herself looking straight into the eyes of Draco Malfoy, over shadowed by his taller and eviler father.  
  
"Happy early Birthday son." she heard Mr. Malfoy say, and watched as a wicked smile spread across Draco's face.  
  
"Thank you Father." Draco said.  
  
"Anything," Lucius replied and turned, closing the door behind him.  
  
"Hello Ginny." Draco drawled walking towards her. She backed up in response.  
  
"Wh-What do you want Malfoy?" she questioned.  
  
"As if you don't know."  
  
"Not even you're that evil," she shakily replied, even she didn't believe it, but still hoped that Draco would somehow feel sorry for her. However, he only laughed maliciously.  
  
"Yes Weasley, I am." He said and grabbed her wrist to throw her against a wall. "You know I'm that evil, and you know what I want. Now stop saying nonsense and let's have some fun, eh?" His hands were now on her chest, feeling her through her robes.  
  
"Never!" she said and began to struggle hard against his grip. It was pointless though; he was so much stronger than her.  
  
"Just give up," he was whispering into her ear now, his fingers undoing the clasp on her robes.  
  
"No." she said, but he just chuckled.  
  
"I will have you Ginny Weasley." He pushed her onto the bed, laying his weight on top of her, "because you see Ginny, I want you, and Malfoys always get what they want."  
  
"You bastard," she whispered.  
  
"Maybe so, but Weasley, do you really think you should be insulting me? You're position is bad enough as it is," he chuckled to himself saying, "no pun intended."  
  
Ginny ignored this last comment she wasn't going to let Draco just take her. She hated that he had all the cards.  
  
"I won't be thinking of you Draco... I'll... I'll be thinking of Harry the whole time." This diverted attention just enough for Ginny to squirm away and make a break for the door.  
  
'Bitch!' he thought and managed to scramble again out of the bed and pin her frail body against the wall right next to the door, which he remembered, he had forgotten to lock. He pushed all his weight into her trying to stop her squirming form. A whimper of both fear and pain escaped her lips. He began to pull at her robes slim cold fingers undoing button after button and his mouth was suckling her neck, Leaving only to mutter the occasional threat into her ear.  
  
"You know Ginny," he breathed nibbling her ear, "if there's one thing I love, it's a challenge. It seems that making you forget Potter would be a tough one, but what a fun victory it would be. I'll make you despise Potter and want me."  
  
"Never!" she said yet again, "I will never ever want you, nor will I forget about Harry." He Laughed.  
  
"Childish crush Weasley, and you know it." Ginny didn't reply, just attempted to turn her head so Draco couldn't see how his words hit home. By now though, fear was coursing through her every vein. Draco's fingers had begun to feel all the sensitive spots on her body. She decided to follow through on her threat seeing there was no way out. She closed her eyes and began to enjoy Malfoy's fingers against her picturing Harry's instead. She even let out a little moan. A slap went across her face with a great deal of force and she cried out in pain.  
  
"I told you I will make you forget about Potter, and that's what I intend to do." He was no longer whispering into her ear, but had her chin in his hand and was speaking quite harshly to her. "Now I will not have you pretending me to be Potter and if my instructions are not followed and I so much as think one single neuron in the that pathetic Weasley brain of yours is thinking of Potter," he paused and using his leg, pushed hers apart, "I can do far worse than take you Ginny." she looked at him fear in her eyes. "Now is that quite understood?" She didn't say anything, this, she realized was not a game. Lawfully of not, Malfoy could do what he wanted with her. Again he slapped her. "I SAID IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"  
  
"Y-yes, I understand." he dropped his harsh demeanor and moved to begin whispering huskily into her ear. " Good," he said, "You belong to be now Ginny. You are my seventeenth birthday present, and you'll be mine tonight. Although, I have yet to decide weather or not I will break that spirit in you for good, or allow that fire in you to live." He stepped back for a moment and surveyed her, and a little smile crept onto his face seeing the tears welling up in her eyes. "Well, I've broken you tonight" With the last phrase he pulled off her robes, so she was standing in just her undergarments.  
  
"No no" She whimpered but didn't dare try to squirm from his grip.  
  
"Oh yes," he said and forced her back against the bed. Ginny was powerless under him.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I wasn't planning on replying to review but Caroline asked if it was going to be a lemon of a fluff, I'm aiming for somewhere in between, but sometimes things just write themselves. 


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter 3  
  
At the Burrow  
  
Breakfast was proceeding quite normally at the Burrow. Well, normal that is, for the Burrow. Fred and George were playing their usual tricks; Mrs. Weasley was bustling around serving breakfast; Pidwegon was chirping madly around the kitchen leading Ron to climb on chairs attempting to capture the fluffy tennis ball; Mr. Weasley was trying to get ready amongst the chaos, and Percy kept apparating and disapparting around the table to get away from Fred and George. Amid the clatter of the morning, not a single Weasley noticed Ginny's absence. To add to the disorder four barn owls flew in through the open window, three of them dropping purple envelops, unmistakably from Hogwarts, at Ron, Fred and George's spots. The fourth circled around as if to locate someone, hooted loudly then dropped its delivery right into the jam Mrs. Weasley was preparing. Without missing a beat Molly Weasley picked up the envelope and cleaned it off with a wave of her wand.  
  
"Ron," she said, "go and wake Ginny up. It's not like her to sleep in this late. Tell her that her letter from Hogwarts has come."  
  
"Arg, all right," he groaned, and leaving Pigwegon squeaking madly around the kitchen. Ron set up the stairs thinking of how nice it would be when Harry came. Harry always seemed to make the chaos at the Burrow much more tolerable. Perhaps it was because everyone, Fred and George included, liked Harry and tried to impress him. Ginny at least would stop chatting and just blush whenever he was around.  
  
"Ginny!" He yelled through the door. No reply. "Ginny," he yelled again, "breakfast is ready, you just got your Hogwarts letter." Again there was no reply. "Ugh," he moaned and pushed the door open, "Ginny will you g-" Ron stopped and looked around, "Ginny?" again no answer, "Ginny?" he called bewildered. "Gin are you in here?" he was met with silence. Ginny wasn't in her room, she wasn't downstairs, she had to be somewhere in the house. "GINNY!" He yelled stepping out onto the landing. "GINNY WEASLEY, " he yelled in panic, "GET DOWN TO BREAKFAST THIS INSTANCE!" the only sound that met his ears was the clatter from the kitchen downstairs. The realization that Ginny wasn't anywhere in the Burrow hit him like a bludger in the stomach. "MUM, DAD, IT'S GINNY!!!" he called running down the stairs back into the kitchen. "Ginny's missing," he announced bursting into the kitchen.  
  
"MISSING?!" The whole family chimed at once, a sudden hush falling over the kitchen. Even Pidwegon notice it, for he gave one last hoot and fell to the floor with a soft thump.  
  
"Ron, really there must be some mistake." Percy said supremely.  
  
"She's not in her room Percy, she's not here, and Mum's right, it's not like her to sleep in."  
  
"Arthur," Mrs. Weasley said, "go to the ministry, and tell them that Ginny is missing." her voice was unusually calm. Mr. Weasley nodded and with a pop was gone. For once, the Burrow was absolutely silent. No one knew quite what to say.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ginny awoke, unusually late. Something wasn't right. The bed was soft and warm all right, and she could feel the warmth of sunlight streaming onto her face. Yet, she had that nagging feeling that there was something wrong. And it hit her. The memories of last night came flooding back to her at the same time the pain in her lower body registered. Turning over she saw the last thing she wanted to, the sleeping figure of Draco Malfoy. However, she reasoned there could be an advantage to Draco still being here. His robes, along with his wand, was most likely lying across the room where he had thrown them last night. She moved to get out of bed, grabbing her robes so she could quickly exit when she obtained the wand. When she crept past Draco, apparently asleep on the bed, a cold hand grabbed her wrist, making her jump.  
  
"You weren't planning on leaving were you Weasley?" he drawled, cold gray eyes dancing with evil delight.  
  
"N-no" she stuttered in surprise.  
  
"Good," he smiled, "now hand me my robes." Ginny, really not wishing to see Draco naked obeyed and retrieved his robes for him  
  
"Can I go home now?" She asked him weekly. Another question she knew the answer to but hoped to appeal to Draco's human side.  
  
"Of course not Weasley, you belong to me now." He said pulling his robes over his head.  
  
"But, but, my family they're going to wonder where I am, they'll come looking for me." she protested in panic.  
  
"Oh yes, undoubtedly your father has already gone to the Ministry with the news that precious Ginny Weasley is missing." he smiled and continued, "but my father Ginny, why my father will appear to be sympathetic. Don't you see, he'll help your father look."  
  
"No, my father will never trust your father Malfoy."  
  
"He'll have no choice," he laughed again, Ginny hated that cold laugh, "My father will insist on leading the search at the ministry! And what with the rumors of Voldermort rising, it will be good publicity for the Malfoy name."  
  
"He'll organize his own search." she stated, with an air of defiance.  
  
"So he might, but he'll never find you." Ginny thought fast, Draco was right, Mr. Malfoy had the ministry in the palm of his hand, and searching alone, well, her father was very unlikely to find her. Perhaps Harry though, when seeing she was gone would notice he had feelings for her and would come looking for her. Oooh she could see it now. He would zoom into the room upon his Firebolt, whisking her away from Draco. The look on Draco's face would be priceless when he realized that not only had he not broken her crush on Harry, but instead he had made Harry love her! A small smile crept onto her lips as she pictured her heroic rescue by Harry.  
  
"Oh Weasley," Draco's bitter drawl interrupted her thoughts, "Don't plan on Perfect Potter saving you either. I can see that smirk on your face. He probably won't even care that you're gone. Now that I think of it, your family may even be happy that you're gone. After all, everyone knows that the Weasley's have more children then they can afford to feed. They might welcome the 'loss'." Draco smiled; he was enjoying playing with her mind.  
  
"My parents would never be happy to loose me, or any of us." She walked towards Draco threateningly. Insult her father's ability to find her, even insult her, but never could he imply that her parents didn't love her. The smirk left Darco's face for a split second as a flicker of fear flashed in his gray eyes.  
  
"Oh innocent Weasley," he sighed, regaining his composer, "Of course, I'll believe whatever you say." he mocked her, "even if you say that Potter will come and save you. Well Weasley, I have news for you. 'Perfect' Potter finds you annoying and an embarrassment. Perhaps your parents will try and find you but Potter, no Potter will be glad you're gone."  
  
"Shut-up MALFOY! HARRY IS TWICE THE PERSON YOU'LL EVERBE!" she finally shouted. BAM a burst from the end of Draco's wand hit her, forcing her back. She let out a scream of pain and surprise and slumped down against the wall she had fallen back onto.  
  
"Listen Ginny," Draco said standing above her, "I own you, I can do whatever I want with you. I allow you bicker, it amuses me, but don't you dare threaten me, ever. I never want to hear you telling me what to do, and never ever EVER do I want to hear you defending Potter in my presence." He grew more and more agitated with each command. By the last one Ginny feared he might curse her. Finally he sped out of the room his black robes wiping around the corner of the doorframe. Ginny heard the almost sickening sound of the door locking behind him, followed by Malfoy's retreating steps. 


	4. Chapter Four

Draco stopped a few feet from his bedroom door after storming out on Ginny. He couldn't keep losing himself like that when she thought about Potter. It simply wasn't the Malfoy way. Originally, he had planned to go practice Quiditch on his new Firebolt his Aunt had sent him for his birthday. However, changing his mind, he went to his father study instead. Mr. Malfoy wasn't at the ministry just yet; he claimed it would be to suspicious if he suddenly decided to be on time the very day Ginny Weasley was discovered missing.  
  
"Father?" Draco said stepping into Mr. Malfoy's study.  
  
"Yes?" he asked looking up from his desk.  
  
"It's Ginny,"  
  
"What about her?" his father snapped.  
  
"I can't seem to get her to break. She's hopelessly in love with Potter." Draco stammered. Mr. Malfoy stopped rustling parchment and looked up at his son. "I know it's only been a day but still..." he trailed off.  
  
"Come sit down boy." Lucius said and sitting down at the desk himself and gestured to a chair across from him. Draco obeyed making himself comfortable in his father's study. "Now tell me the problem with the girl again, don't you find your birthday present suitable?"  
  
"Oh yes father, I'm enjoying my gift very much, she was quite entertaining last night." Lucius beamed, proud of his son, "However, when we were," he cleared his throat, "together, I think she was thinking of Potter."  
  
"You think?"  
  
"Well, know actually," he corrected, "she keeps getting this grin, and when I told her Potter hated her, well she positively screamed at me."  
  
"Draco," Lucius said, "Although taunting the girl may be entertaining, I think what you really need to so is tame her. It will be an interesting end of holiday project."  
  
"She belongs to me doesn't she? Why can't I taunt her?"  
  
"Because, my son, there is no tool like being able to manipulate someone. If you can tame this girl, make her become yours, and expel any thoughts of Potter from her head, then I'll say that I've gotten you a worthwhile birthday present."  
  
"Tame her, but how Father?"  
  
"Well there are two ways really, putting them together would be quite effective. The first is to kill her with kindness. Be kind and authoritative at the same time. The second technique is to be sure she depends on you for everything. Whether it be food, clothing or a 'friend', you must be the one provide it for her."  
  
"I understand. So to start, may I give her her own room? And perhaps I'll bring her her lunch myself."  
  
"Precisely!" Lucius Malfoy chimed brightly, "I believe you have the idea. Now, however, I must get to the ministry, I've already missed a lot of the fun revolving around your birthday present. I certainly don't want to miss anymore."  
  
"Have a good day." Draco said bidding his father goodbye and with a pop Lucius Malfoy was gone from the study.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Harry Potter came upstairs after a terrible 'birthday' lunch with the Dursleys. Of course, the problem with the 'birthday' lunch was that it wasn't a birthday lunch at all. They had forgotten his birthday yet again, but since going to Hogwarts and finding out he was a Wizard, this failed to bother him. He opened the door to the smallest bedroom in number four Privet Drive, only to have two owls immediately drop letters at his feet. The first owl he recognized as Pig, the second, he didn't recognize at all, but he quickly concluded it was a Hogwarts owl due to the letter it had delivered. Pig squeaked loudly and flew over the Hedwig's cage to rest, hooting gladly at the successful delivery. Harry put the Hogwarts letter aside to read later, no doubt in contained the same information as always. Expecting a birthday card, he was eager to read Ron's letter. However, when he opened the envelope a letter far from a birthday card met him.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Something horrible has happen. Ginny is missing! It must have happened during the night because when I went to get her this morning to come down to breakfast, she wasn't there. Dad told the ministry and Lucius Malfoy of all people is leading the search. I don't trust him, Mum doesn't either, but Dad says we don't have a choice. I just thought you should know. Be careful, no one knows why 'they' took Ginny.  
  
Ron  
  
Harry's brow furrowed upon reading the news. He rescanned the note several times to be sure he had read it right. The note offered very little information, in truth almost none. It wasn't even dated. Again he cursed his separation from the Wizarding World when on Privet Drive. No doubt the letter was old, writing to him wouldn't be the first thing on Ron's mind for one thing, and Pig wasn't known for his fast deliveries. Unlike Hedwig, Harry thought, who could find and deliver almost anything to anyone in a matter of days. That gave Harry an idea. If Hedwig could find anyone, perhaps he could find Ginny. After all, Hedwig did find Sirius while he was in hiding from the Ministry. Why couldn't she find Ginny? Then, even if Ginny couldn't write back, and Hedwig couldn't tell him, he would at the very least be able to inform the Weasleys that Ginny was okay. He sat down at his desk and began to compose two letters.  
  
Ron, [the first one said]  
  
Thanks for letting me know. I'll be careful but Dumbledore has me here for a reason, I believe I'm rather safe (but bored) here on Privet Drive. Would you still like me to come to stay with you? Of course I'll understand if your house is to busy or you just don't want a guest around. Hagrid will take me to Diagon Alley if I can't get there. I'm sending Hedwig to find Ginny. I plan on writing her a little note; if Hedwig comes back I'm sure she'll find a way to tell me if Ginny is okay. Good luck, and give me regards to your entire family.  
  
Harry  
  
Harry tied the letter to Pig's foot and sent him out the window. Hedwig hooted a bit upset at loosing a delivery to such an owl.  
  
"Oh calm down," Harry said to his owl, "I have something much more important for you to do," and again he began to compose a letter.  
  
Ginny,  
  
Are you okay?? Ron owled me to tell me that you are missing! I plan on sending Hedwig out immediately to find you. Of course I know you probably aren't able to write back but Hedwig won't let this letter be taken by anyone but you. Hang in there! I hope I can see you at platform 9 ¾ come September 1.  
  
Harry  
  
P.S. Mr. Malfoy is leading the search at the ministry. It seems odd to me too!  
  
"Hedwig," Harry said as he tied the letter to her leg, "This is very important. You must deliver this letter to Ginny Weasley, Ron's little sister, and ONLY Ginny Weasley. Okay?"  
  
Hedwig gave a dignified hoot and affectionately nipped Harry's finger before soaring out the window.  
  
"Now there's nothing to do but wait," Harry commented watching the snowy owl fly away.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Draco Malfoy stopped in front of his door, preparing to go meet 'the shrew'.  
  
"Ginny!" He called pleasantly as he opened the door to find her sitting by a window staring out onto the grounds.  
  
"Can't you give me a little peace?" she asked, her voice sounding strained.  
  
"That's precisely what I'm here to do!" He chimed spiritedly. She was really making this too easy.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Well you can't stay in my room for the whole time your here. I figured I mine as well give you a comfortable room for your own, and how about a house elf to take care of you."  
  
"No thank you," she said defiantly still gazing out the window. Well he certainly wasn't expecting that.  
  
"Pardon?" He replied politely.  
  
"I said NO THANK YOU," She turned to face him, tears welling up in her eyes, "I can take care of myself fine thanks."  
  
"Well then," he said a little frazzled by her rejection, "I must insist on your own room. Certainly you don't want to sleep on the floor here or share my bed." For a few seconds she held his gaze, as if trying to contemplate his motives, but after those prolonged seconds she decided that whether his motives be good or bad, she would very much like her own room, and yes, even her own house elf. Without so much as a word she rose from her chair and prepared to follow Draco to whatever room he led her too.  
  
The pair walked in silence along the halls, Ginny unwillingly admiring the grandness of the Manor and Draco cursing himself for allowing her that bit of control. How was he supposed to be authoritative, calm, and 'friendly' at the same time? Never had he imagined that he would look up to Dumbledore but right now he was. Dumbledore always managed to be authoritative, calm and friendly all at once. But how did he do it? Once Draco thought about it he realized that Dumbledore was just known to be powerful. It was a fact. Well, he was powerful too; he just had to prove it to Ginny. So with a devilish grin he pointed his wand at the carpet in front of her just as they were passing a staircase, raising it a few inches. Ginny, still looking up at the walls and ceiling tripped and nearly stumbled down the stairs.  
  
"Be careful," he said, as he moved to catch her and she fell into his strong arms, "you almost tripped. You could have been seriously hurt." Ginny a little shaken from her near fall studied him for a second. He was holding her tight, her cheek pressed up against his toned chest. Draco towered almost a foot above her, and from what she had seen, and felt, she recalled with a wince, he was also rather strong. Suddenly, she remembered where she was and no near fall down the stairs could make her grateful to the boy who was holding her.  
  
"I would rather be dead than here." she spat, straightening up and brushing off her robes. Draco couldn't help but reflect on how 'wonderfully' his father's plan was working out.  
  
"Here we are," Draco said as they reached their destination. He opened the door to reveal a room much like his own except the décor was all pink. Ginny couldn't help it, her eyes growing wide in astonishment. The room was probably three times the size of her real one at home and ten times as nice.  
  
"This is where you will be living." Draco said interrupting her gawking, "I'm going to assign you a house elf because I believe you need one. Women always need something. However, most of the time I will personably be bringing you your meals. You see Ginny, it gets rather boring around here, and I could do with a little company. Also, I'll see my mother about getting you some robes." with this Ginny glanced up at him expectedly never had she had new robes, always hand-me-downs, "Well you can't possibly want to stay in those. Anyways I'll leave that to me mother she'll know what style and colors you'll need. I'm sure there's some magazines over there, a chess set," he drawled on, "are you any good at chess Ginny?"  
  
"Yes," she said absent mindedly still gazing in awe around the room, "I'm the best in the Weasley family."  
  
"I'll have to play you sometime, I'm quite good myself. If you need anything, just call Zally, that's your house elf, and she'll check with me. Okay?"  
  
"My elf has to check with you?" she questioned coming back to her senses.  
  
"Why yes, of course she does." Ginny glared a second at him before turning towards the window.  
  
"I like this room." she stated matter-of-factly.  
  
"Why's that?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.  
  
"Because it has a window, and I can see what appears to be a quiditch pitch."  
  
"You enjoy quiditch?" he inquired politely.  
  
"Not particularly," she shrugged, "but I'll watch you play from here. Harry's going to be quiditch captain you know," she was still staring out the window, "and I'm sure he'll love to hear how you play. Of course, I doubt he'll need my help, after all, he's beaten you every time we play Slytherin." She turned towards him, eyes dancing with delight at the low blow she had just dealt. Draco balled his fist and dug his nails into his palm. He long to teach her a lesson, to hex her within an inch of her life until she admitted that Potter was no match for him.  
  
Instead of cursing or hitting her he calmly replied, "Well, if I believed that I was in any danger of you telling Potter how I fly, I would cover the window. However, seeing as how you belong to me now, and I have no plans of letting you go for a few years at least, I see no reason to deny you the opportunity to admire the view of me on my new Firebolt." She turned her head back towards the window, his words repeating themselves in her head. 'A few years at least??' That was far to long. She felt Draco's presence behind her. "If you'd just let me show you a good time Ginny, I think you'll find life here at the Manor relatively enjoyable." She remained staring out the window not answering his question. Several long minutes passed in which Draco saw Ginny bring her hand up to her face, undoubtedly to wipe away tear. Draco refused to leave until she acknowledged what he had said. Finally she spoke.  
  
"What's my house elf's name again?"  
  
"Zally,"  
  
"Well get her for me now, I'm hungry. I haven't had anything to eat since that wee bit of Dinner some elf brought up when I was in your father's study."  
  
"You know, supper does sound good," he ignored the tone in her voice and treated it like a request, "I'll bring some up in about an hour. Maybe then we can have a game of chess?"  
  
"An hour's a long time Draco, and I'm not about to willingly play you in chess. That would involve spending time around you." Draco cringed, every fiber of his being wanted to curse Ginny into the next century, but he had to be friendly yet controlling, thus making her wait an hour for her supper. How dare that girl talk to him that way? She had seen and felt what he could do to her.  
  
"Well if you'll excuse me I have some quiditch practicing to do." He exited closing the door behind him and of course locking it.  
  
Ginny was absolutely seething. That horrible git! How DARE he keep her here for a few years? Why, she would miss the best years of her life! Locked up in a blasted room doing nothing but being a good lay for Malfoy when he felt the need. She had a weapon though. He hated her crush on Harry. Thus she resolved to intensify her love for Harry, making sure Malfoy saw how undaunted she was by him.  
  
Moments later she saw a small black dot mounted atop a broom rise from the ground of the quiditch pitch. The dot zoomed around making sharp turns and diving occasionally. Ginny was certain he was trying difficult stunts for her benefit, just for the sake of showing off. He turned and dived at an extraordinarily sharp angle. However, mid way through the dive, he somehow lost his grip on the broom and fell off, plummeting a good ten or fifteen meters to the ground. Ginny watch extremely amused as Malfoy flailed his arms as he fell. For the first time since she had been stolen from her room she smiled, and proceeding to collapse onto the ground in fits of laughter. 


	5. Chapter Five

Ginny paced back and forth. She was powerless. Every time she tried the door her hand started to burn. It wasn't just the doorknob or her hand either. Whenever any part of her body got within a centimeter of the door it felt as if the door was a flaming torch. She hated this feeling of being trapped in this room, and to be dependent on Draco of all people, that arrogant snob, strutting around like he owned Hogwarts. The thought of being near him let along BELONGING to him made her queasy. She sat down at the desk and started flipping through Witch Weekly Teen. Suddenly an article caught her eye. "Control the Relationship!" it advertised. The article was all about how to control your boyfriend. If she tweaked the advice just a bit she might be able to apply to Draco. 'This will either work wonders or make me regret ever finding this.' she thought.  
  
Two hours after Draco's monstrous fall, he was sitting across from Ginny having a dinner of steak and salad. His bruises had already been repaired by a wave of his mother's wand.  
  
"I must say Draco, I've never seen anyone with such remarkable quiditch skills," she said her eyes dancing in pure delight.  
  
"I'm sure your precious Potter has fallen from much higher heights."  
  
She snorted, "Not when he was trying to show off to a girl he's kidnapped."  
  
"I wasn't trying to show off to you," he said quickly.  
  
"If you say so. Truthfully," she chose this time to take a casual bit of salad, "I find it a terrible shame your mother is such a wonderful healer. The world would be a much better place with one less Malfoy."  
  
"That fall wouldn't kill me, I'm stronger than that."  
  
"How unfortunate," she said, slightly mimicking his drawl.  
  
"By the way, my father told me that you're father came into work without saying a word about you're disappearance."  
  
"Malfoy, if and when you're going to lie to me, at least make it believable. I know perfectly well my father would do no such thing." Malfoy glared at her as she again casually took a bite of her salad. There was a long pause as each of them sized up their opponent, Draco trying to figure out how to control her mouth and Ginny trying to find the best way to gain more control.  
  
"Well," Draco finally said, "you can bet Potter isn't looking for you."  
  
"You're quite right, I'm sure he isn't. You see Harry is cut off from the Wizarding World, not until later when he comes to stay with us will he find out I was missing." her eyes again were dancing with unhidden delight.  
  
"Ha, leave it to Potter to be a dope enough to not be able to magic himself out of a house full of Muggles." Draco scoffed.  
  
"Leave it to you to not be able to get a girl so you have to kidnap one." she countered.  
  
"I can get a girl Weasley,"  
  
"Can you now? If you have to pay them, they don't count. You know that right?"  
  
"I've never paid a whore."  
  
"That's right! You won't pay someone who's willing to, oh no you'd NEVER go that low. But as for steeling an innocent sixteen year old, that's completely okay." There was an odd silence. "So Draco I'm dying to know, whom have you slept with?"  
  
"That's none of your concern," he said quickly.  
  
"It's plenty my concern, for all I know you've given me something."  
  
"I only sleep with Virgins," he said.  
  
"Yeah right. Pansy Parkinson is not a virgin."  
  
"Pansy was a Virgin!" he claimed. Ginny smiled, at her successful attempt to squeeze information out him. Draco in return was glaring murderously at her.  
  
"I'm afraid I'll have to correct you. You did only sleep with Virgins." of course it was a lie, she had never even so much as been kissed. He looked at her. Was she lying? After all there was no true way to tell she had screamed in pain but if she wasn't particularly experienced it could be possible. Plus, her comfort hadn't even entered his mind.  
  
"You were a virgin Weasley, I know it," he said ignoring his doubts.  
  
"You'd like to think that wouldn't you?" Ginny's games were beginning to wear on him.  
  
"I know it," he growled.  
  
"How?" Draco proceeded to list off his thoughts only to be counter by Ginny bringing up all the doubts he had had.  
  
"Well then, I have to know, who's the guy you roped into sleeping with you?" Ginny's look gave away her lie, she hadn't thought of that. Obviously she couldn't say Harry, that was to obviously a 'no' and the thought of any of the other Gryffindor boys so much as touching her made her skin crawl.  
  
"I knew it," he smirked, "you were a virgin. Lucky me got to be the first to have you."  
  
"Well, like I said, you must have gotten sick of whores like Pansy Parkinson."  
  
"If you must know, Pansy and I have broken up."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Again, that's none of your concern."  
  
" She wasn't good enough in the sack was she?" she taunted.  
  
"No, she broke up with me." arg she had done it again, squeezed information out of him.  
  
"Why, you weren't any good in the sack?" she smirked, "I can see that." She had crossed the line. A flicker of fear crossed Ginny's face as Draco glared at her, hot rage coursing through every vein in his body. At this moment he didn't care about taming her, he didn't care if he was taking ten steps backwards all he wanted to do is put her in her place. In one swift movement, he through down his napkin was up and across the table and had pulled Ginny to her feet. He grabbed her by her shoulders and held her only an inch from his own body.  
  
"Let's not forget I'm in charge here girl." he growled down at her, expecting her eyes to be filled with fear, instead they were still dancing in delight.  
  
"Are you?" she said defiantly. His eyes narrowed once more.  
  
"I'm stronger than you, and more powerful too. Your very being rest in my hands, I'm the one in control." He glared down shaking her with vigor, but Ginny was looking passively up at him.  
  
"Oh you're right. You are strong than me, and without a wand most definitely more powerful but I truly have all the power. Just by mentioning Harry or insulting your performance I can make you go ballistic. If I wanted you to lay off all I'd have to do is stutter and weep." He clutched her harder willing her to stop. "See just now. You can't stand that I'm right! Soon you're going to try to force me onto the bed to show how 'manly' you are." Draco rage was growing larger and larger with each word she spoke. She was right; he was about to force her onto the bed, cover her sarcastic little mouth with his, and make her scream out in wretched pain like last night. More then anything right now he wanted to run his nails down that blasted milky skin of hers and teach her a lesson. For a split second he considered doing just that not caring if she was right, but then he realized, if he did, SHE would be teaching HIM a lesson. Gathering up every last bit of self-control he had, he let go of her and walked away without a second glance. For once Ginny stood there in surprised silence.  
  
Draco walked to his room contemplating what she had said. She was right; she did control him whenever they were together. Apparently she had discovered his hate for Potter and was milking for all it was worth. There was however, a way to be certain she had no control. A plan began forming in his mind, a particularly evil plan at that. His father had informed him to make sure she was dependent on him for all her needs. If he could only create enough distance between them that she became desperate.  
  
"Zally!" He called and within seconds the elf appeared.  
  
"Master Draco called Zally sir?" the elf stuttered.  
  
"Yes. Go get my mother." Zally disappeared and a second later Mrs. Malfoy apparated with her into his room.  
  
"What's wrong Draco?" the women asked.  
  
"You know Ginny, my present?"  
  
"Yes dear, what about her?"  
  
"She needs a few new robes."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Well obviously I don't know anything about women's robes. So I was wondering if you could fit her for some."  
  
"Oh yes, that will be rather entertaining actually, I never had a girl to dress up." she said and prepared to disapparate into Ginny's room.  
  
"Wait!" he said, "I want to be with you. Father said I should learn to manipulate people. I have a plan but I want to appear authoritative. Would you mind terribly mother if I came with you and said yes or no to ideas?"  
  
Mrs. Malfoy just beamed. Maternal pride was taking over.  
  
"You're going to turn out just like your father," she said as they walked out of Draco's room.  
  
They arrived a few minutes later at Ginny's door and entered without knocking. Ginny was sitting in the corner flipping through a six month old issue of 'Witch Weekly Teen'.  
  
"Oh you're back. I knew you would be," she said jumping out, that familiar look in her eyes. She smiled even bigger when Mrs. Malfoy entered the room, "And you've brought your Mother with you! Does this mean I get those new robes?" Ginny of course, wasn't really happy to see Draco, she hoped he'd stay away for the rest of August but she knew she had the play the game and what's more, win the game.  
  
"Ginny, don't pretend you're happy to see me. You're not. And yes, I have brought my mother with me. You are getting new robes." his voice was monotone not allowing Ginny's games to get to him.  
  
"Goody!" she clapped her hands and stood up. The fitting began, Mrs. Malfoy trying on robe after robe for size. The first was a light pink very simple robe, much like her Hogwarts robes except for the color and the top was a bit more fitted. Draco shook his head.  
  
"I don't like it." and with a wave of Mrs. Malfoy's wand it was gone, replaced with Ginny's shabby one. An involuntary gasp of protest escaped Ginny's lips. Draco smiled at his Mother and tried to send her a signal. The Malfoy had always been able to communicate with one another on a somewhat telepathic level. It's not that they could actually hear one another's thoughts, but they could just read one another quite well. This time Draco was attempting to tell his mother his thoughts. 'Have her try on lots of pretty robes but give he simple ones.' The next robe was a light purple summer robe, a personal favorite of Ginny's but that was also swept away with a wave of Mrs. Malfoy's wand. Ginny's also tried on a dark blue robe just like her Hogwarts robes ("I don't like it Mother), a few form fitting white ones (which Draco actually did like but he could tell Ginny did also) a periwinkle robe with fake gem stones around the collar (Draco shook his head), a few more pink robes of varying styles (No mother, pink is to innocent for Ginny). Finally Ginny tried on a dress of dark emerald green that looked wonderful with her hair and hugged her bust and cute bottom before flowing out.  
  
"I like it Mother," he said with a nod.  
  
"Wonderful Draco, I'll have Madame Mince make ten just like it.  
  
"It can be you're uniform," he said to Ginny.  
  
"I can't wait for Harry to see me in them. He'll think I'll look beautiful." she smirked.  
  
"Well seeing as how Potter is male and those don't leave anything to the imagination, he'll certainly want to do you."  
  
"Harry's not like you Malfoy." she said real emotion taking over for once.  
  
"Sure Ginny, whatever you say." he said then turned to his mother, "Shall we go?"  
  
"Yes dear, let's," the two of them left Ginny there, longing for her new robes.  
  
Zally was still waiting for him when he returned to his room.  
  
"Zally, good you're still here. I have some instructions for you involving Ginny."  
  
"Yes Master Draco sir?" the elf squeaked.  
  
"Listen. You are to go to Ginny whenever she calls. However, whenever she asks for something make sure you say that you you'll check with me and before you give it to her be sure to say that I okayed it. Just call her Ginny, no ma'am no miss, nothing except Ginny. Also never use the door; always just appear into her room. Never let her see anyone except you, the only way she should be able to see to the outside world is through that window. That means no newspapers, no magazines. NOTHING! Understood?"  
  
"Yes Master Draco Sir. Zally understands completely."  
  
"Dismissed." he said and the elf popped out of his room.  
  
Draco's plan was genius. Ginny would have to depend on him for everything. He didn't have to be friendly. After a week of seeing no one but an elf and with no way to hear what was going on, well then she could only rely on him for company. If they weren't in the same room Ginny couldn't play that little game. Enough time away from her would be good for him. He would just magic the robes into her room that night and that would be the last contact with her for a week. 


	6. Chapter Six

Harry was beginning to worry, he was heading to the Weasley's and he still hadn't heard from Ginny. He hoped that he hadn't scent Hedwig into danger. The Weasleys were coming for him with a ministry car after Uncle Vernon positively REFUSED to allow them to come via floo powder. He also refused to allow any of the Weasleys to step foot into number four Privet Drive so Harry was waiting on the stairs with his trunk and school stuff anticipating the moment he could run to the Weasley's car and to freedom. Although, if truth be told, he wasn't looking forward to the visit nearly as much as he was last year because the whole of the Weasley family was in a state of shock due to Ginny's disappearance. The sound of a car pulling into the driveway tore Harry from his thoughts. He sprang from the stairs and begun to hall his trunk out of the house. The twins met him on the porch to help him pull the trunk to the car.  
  
"Hi Harry" Ron said obviously happy to see him but his voice lacked any enthusiasm. The drive to the Burrow was terrible; Mr. Weasley didn't even try asking him about Muggle things for once and of course there was no blushing Ginny in the car.  
  
At the Burrow was even worse. The normally bustling household was filled with an odd and eerie silence. Mrs. Weasley's didn't offer Harry any second helpings, let along fourth; Percy had dropped his know it all demeanor, replaced with one of solitude; Ron was quiet and withdrawn, talking to Harry in a monotone voice, and even the explosions coming from the twins room were half hearted and lacking vigor.  
  
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At the Malfoy Manor Ginny was lounging around trying desperately to get a grasp on reality. She hadn't seen anyone for a week and was starting to question her sanity. Yesterday she had taken to ordering Zally around solely to hear her tell her that "Draco said..." She needed to know there was someone else out there even if it was Draco Malfoy. Today she had spent the majority of the day staring onto the Quiditch Pitch in hopes of seeing Malfoy. She only wanted to see another human, seeing him fall hadn't crossed her mind, neither had the fact that she was annoying him by constantly sending Zally to pop in on him and ask for things for her. Draco had also taken to making her wait for her request. Two days ago when she had requested lunch, Zally reported that Draco said she must wait an hour and when she asked why Zally simply replied, "Because Master Draco says so!" So went her past week, at the will of Draco, not seeing a single human soul and now staring out the window into a world she wasn't sure she would ever be apart of again.  
  
  
  
Draco Malfoy sat in his room finishing up his Holiday homework. Well, the book was open in front of him at least but he wasn't really paying much attention to it. He was listening to the rain on the roof and thinking about Ginny. Yesterday she had started sending Zally to him time after time. At first he thought it was some scheme to annoy him but ruled out that possibility when Zally said that Ginny had started to stare out the window looking intently at the Quiditch pitch. Yes, he decided, now would be the perfect time to go to her for just a quick visit.  
  
"Zally!" he called.  
  
"Yes Master Draco Sir?" the elf said as she popped into the room.  
  
"Go get my lunch ready, I'm taking it in Ginny's room today."  
  
"Yes Sir Master Draco sir!" the elf said.  
  
Ginny had given up on the window when it had started to rain and was now lying on the bed staring up into the pink canopy. Draco was far too prissy to play Quiditch in the rain. Normally, "Harry plays Quiditch in the rain," would have crossed her mind but right now all she could think of was trying to find someway to see another human. She heard a small creek that sounded like the door opening and sat up with a start looking intently at the door, which was opening at an agonizingly slow pace. Finally it opened all the way to reveal Draco Malfoy accompanied by Zally who was carrying two lunch trays. She sprang to her feet. No quips or insults came to her lips; there was too much delight of seeing another human.  
  
"Hello Ginny!" Draco called pleasantly as if it had only been five minutes since he left Ginny's room, and not a week.  
  
"Hi" she said meekly.  
  
"I thought we could have lunch together, would you like that?"  
  
"Yes," she said in the same tone. They sat together at the small table in Ginny's room. The meal took place in silence for a few minutes. "How-how are you?" she asked worried that if there was no conversation Draco would leave her alone again.  
  
Draco smiled to himself; he was making definite progress with the girl.  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"What did you do this week?" she asked politely.  
  
"I was just finishing up some holiday homework."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Would you care for a game of chess after lunch?" he asked.  
  
"Oh yes please." Ginny said grateful the Draco would be staying at least the time it took to finish a game of chess. Her original plan to win as quickly as possible didn't so much as enter her mind. The meal went on in silence, along with the game of chess. Ginny was purposefully not noticing moves that would have led to her winning. There were numerous times she could have put Draco in check and consequently checkmate. The game finally ended with Draco taking her king and him rising to leave.  
  
"No!" she said quickly, "Stay!"  
  
"Ginny, that game lasted two hours." he scolded, "But I'll come back tomorrow."  
  
"You will?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Depends."  
  
"Can't I have something to do? I've looked over those magazines countless times. I know them all by heart!"  
  
"Good idea, you must get rather bored," he said as if the thought had never crossed his mind before.  
  
"I'll tell you what, how about when I come back tomorrow I'll bring you something to do?"  
  
"Thank you." she said calmly and watched his back as he left the room. She didn't know what Draco would bring but the thought of having something, ANYTHING to do almost made her giddy.  
  
"Zally!" she called a split second after the door shut.  
  
"Ginny called Zally?" Zally said appearing.  
  
"Draw me a bubble bath and ask Draco if I can have some relaxing music."  
  
"Yes Ginny." the elf popped out. Minutes later Ginny was relaxing in a bath with no music but was humming to herself.  
  
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Okay sorry for it being so short. I have acquired writers block for this story, which is probably a good thing because I have AP exams this week. So I posted the little bit that I could get out figuring you'd rather have that then nothing. Maybe I'll find some time to write between studding and freaking out. Anyways thanks to all my reviewers. I'm taking (most of) your advice! 


	7. Chapter Seven

Draco returned the next day with a book in hand. Ginny had never been much of a reader but it was most favorable to starring out that blasted window waiting for Malfoy to play Quiditch. The book he had selected for her, she was surprised to find, was rather interesting. It was about a pureblood witch, who fell in love with a muggle prince, but her parents wouldn't let her see a muggle and they had already bestridden her to a pureblood wizard. The prince's parents, who thought the witch to be a commoner, also forbid the prince to see her. Well the witch and the prince ended up running off and getting married. Ginny was surprised the Malfoy's had a book promoting a muggle/pureblood marriage. That is until she read the last page where the witch was dying with muggle children looking back and cursing herself for not marrying the man her parents had wanted her to. Ginny read the entire book from the time Draco left after lunch and the time she went to bed. That night she heard the familiar creek of the door announcing Draco's arrival.  
  
"Hello," she called sitting up in the darkness. The only sound to reach her ears was the sound of footsteps drawing closer.  
  
"Draco?" she cried, "Is that you?" she couldn't see anything in the pitch black and felt like she was calling off into the abyss but, she soon felt the weight of another on the bed pushing her shoulders down and back onto the bed. "No, oh no please it's been a week. No not again!" she cried only to feel him lay her weight on her.  
  
"Shhhh," he finally spoke, "be quiet."  
  
"No, don't! Anything just don't."  
  
"Sweet Ginny, you know what I want I will eventually get." Something in Ginny cracked and she was suddenly too weak to fight. He was right and she knew it. He would get what he wanted from her one way or another and Ginny didn't care to struggle, get slapped, and just delay the process. She laid back in submission, sobs still escaping her lips the entire time, partly from the mere thought of having to go through this again and when the pain started, because of the horrible pain. Draco left within five minutes of finishing and Ginny was left along again in the dark still sobbing until she drifted off into an uneasy rest.  
  
Tap tap tap tap.  
  
Ginny was woken by the sound of tapping at her window. The sound was familiar and because at sometime she had stored it somewhere in her subconscious, her brain was telling her that it was a comforting sound. But Ginny refused to open her eyes, holding onto the illusions that sleep promised. She knew once she gave into consciousness her happy times at the Burrow with Harry would be over. Sleep, however unfortunate, only lasted so long though and she was forced acknowledge she was at the Malfoy Manor, having just been raped for the second time in a week. When she finally groggily opened one eye she saw a sight that made her forget her troubles.  
  
"HEDWIG" she whispered fiercely seeing the snowy owl at the window and never having been more delighted at seeing any owl in her entire life. "Hedwig" she cried again and then, "Harry!!!" thinking of Harry sending Hedwig to find her. She tried to open the window to let Hedwig in but the window was magically locked. "Come back later Hedwig," she whispered through the glass, "I'll open this widow somehow." She would somehow get Draco to let her open that window.  
  
Draco came later the day, the door creaking open and again accompanied by poor Zally and her lunch trays.  
  
"Hullo!" he called seeing Ginny staring out the window.  
  
"Draco," she said, "Can't I open this window? It get so stuffy in here." he surveyed her, walking around to her other side and gazed out the window with her.  
  
"How do I know you won't try and jump like you did last time in my father's study?"  
  
"Can't you just put one of those barriers up on here?"  
  
"And what do I get in return?" she turned to face him and struggled to keep her face calm. Seeing Hedwig had given her new resolve to win, to fight, to be free. This time though she realized that winning meant fooling Draco not just insulting him. She had to make him believe that she was still under his control meanwhile gaining all the control. So Ginny had to resist the urge to yell, "What the hell could you possibly want that you haven't already taken?!" instead she made her voice quiet and weak.  
  
"Well, what do you want?" He ran a cool hand around her waste. Ginny stood completely still as her skin prickled up at the touch of her enemy.  
  
"No more struggling or crying. Be willing Ginny. I promise you it would be better anyways." She pulled away from him green robes swishing around her feet.  
  
"No open window is worth letting you rape Me." it was a little harsh for the attitude she was trying to display but not so out of the realm of possibilities that it so much as registered in Draco's subconscious.  
  
"Maybe I'll leave then." he said and began to walk out the door. Ginny's mind whirled. She couldn't let Draco leave, forget that horrible loneliness, if Draco left she would never be able to get that window open. Draco was stepping out the door she realized she only had once choice.  
  
"Wait!" she called. He turned towards her a mock look of curiosity on his face.  
  
"Will you at least make the charm so I can put my arm out of the window. I want the sunlight on my skin again.  
  
"So you agree then?" he asked eagerly.  
  
"Yes," was her rather meek reply.  
  
"One hundred percent?" she turned away avoid his eyes. "You'll give yourself to me every time I want you."  
  
"Yes, yes." she cried her voice choking up. Even knowing that she could write home, for Harry was at the Burrow by now, and knowing that she could be rescued soon couldn't make her feel any better about allowing Draco to touch her. Draco smiled, the smile of a victor and with a simple wave of his wand the window opened with a click. 


	8. Chapter Eight

Draco left and Ginny practically flew to the window.  
  
"Hedwig," she whispered fiercely here eyes darting to find the owl, "Hedwig!" she called again. Her attention was drawn to a white dot that flew from the forest slowly into view and landed on the windowsill. "Don't come in, stay there," she said and the bird ruffled her wings then settled them at her sides as if to show she understood. Ginny took the letter off carefully so she could use the string again if necessary.  
  
  
  
Ginny, [The letter said]  
  
Are you okay?? Ron owled me to tell me that you are missing! I plan on sending Hedwig out immediately to find you. ['He sacrificed his only means of communication to find me!' she thought] Of course I know you probably aren't able to write back but Hedwig won't let this letter be taken by anyone but you. Hang in there! I hope I can see you at platform 9 ¾ come September 1. [Eeeeeeeeee! she whispered screached.]  
  
Harry  
  
P.S. Mr. Malfoy is leading the search at the ministry. It seems odd to me too!  
  
  
  
She smiled and hugged the letter to her chest. Malfoy would never get to her now. In fact she would enjoy stringing him along. She ran to the desk and threw open a drawer. Her fingers searched its contents for the quills and Ink she had found in her first days here. She found them with and excited squeal and put them set them on the desk. There wasn't any parchment but now she had Harry's letter so she could write on the back of it.  
  
  
  
Harry [She scribbled]  
  
I'm alive though not wholly all right. I'm at the Malfoy Manor! Draco Malfoy is pervert but I really don't want to expand on that. Please help me! Or send someone! I don't know how much longer I can endure this mental and physical torture. Send more owls please? Harry, please help me. I know you already saved me back in my first year and you almost died because of it but please, send someone. PLEASE.  
  
Ginny  
  
  
  
Hastily, she tied the letter onto Hedwig's leg and sent the bird off.  
  
"Go quickly," she whispered and the bird sped off towards her home. Ginny took care to notice it flew around the house and made a mental note of this. If she was in the back of the house that meant the Burrow was north of the house. That fact could be very useful. Ginny flopped on the bed to daydream the day away.  
  
/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\  
  
Ginny looked in the mirror again. Earlier Malfoy had magicked some lingerie into her room with instructions to have it on 'later'. Well, Ginny wasn't quite sure when 'later' was, but she did know she didn't want to risk her means of communication with Harry, so she decided that eight was 'later' enough. It was now eleven and Malfoy hadn't showed up. Around nine she had fallen asleep on her bed wait and awoke her hair a mess. So she was now critiquing her reflection once more. The sheer emerald negligee left very little, okay nothing, to the imagination. She took a sharp intake of breath and held her stomach in. She wasn't to sure as to why she was trying to look nice for Malfoy, if anything she should be trying to gain weight, but she liked the idea of Harry possibly busting into her room to save her and the thought of her looking so appealing in that little feathery 'dress'. Although, she was quite sure this wasn't possible, Harry coming so soon that is, her imagination got the best of her and she admired her reflection some more before tucking a stray lock of hair behind her milky ear. The door creaked open announcing Draco's arrival and Ginny turned her head to see him standing there, with a (rather cute) smile on his face. There was something different about him Ginny saw, as if some sort of transformation had taken place between the time he had left and now.  
  
"Hello." he said...nicely? Yes nicely, she decided, there was really no other word to describe it. She took sudden care to be careful, Malfoy and nice didn't belong in a non-negated sentence. Something was up.  
  
"Hi." was her meek reply. Meek, that was now her word, her objective always be meek. She reminded herself to be meek and willing (again) yet still innocently seductive. He stepped inside waving the door shut with his wand behind him. He casually flicked his wrist and the candles lighting her room dimmed to a dull light and with another wave, light music began to drift in. Ginny was truly surprised. The atmosphere in the room was almost romantic. If Harry walked in now, he would most definitely get the wrong idea. Draco walked, not sauntered towards her, and gently placed his hands around her waist. She closed her eyes in anticipation of rough hands and bruised lips as Draco pulled her slightly towards her, but Draco gave her a slight kiss on the lips. Her eyes fluttered open in surprise at the gentleness of it. His tongue gently traced her lips before darting into her open mouth. Ginny couldn't quite remember when she had opened her mouth but was quite sure that it was closed and had opened without her so much as thinking about it. Even when their kiss deepened, passionate as it was, it still wasn't rough or demanding. He held her tighter still and ran his fingers lightly down her smooth back. Delicious sensations began to curl throughout her entire body. They started around her stomach and lazily drifted through her limbs until her fingers and toes felt tingly and her head swam. At first she tried ignoring the sensations but finally realized there was no need to do this. Technically, it was still rape whether she enjoyed it or not, Malfoy was still forcing her to sleep with him. So gradually Malfoy's lights kisses and gentile caressing touches wore her defenses down until she was only thinking of the caressing touch and warm muscular body pressed so closely up to hers, all thoughts of her rescue pushed out of her head. Ginny allowed her body to take over completely her mind giving in to the demands of her body, and in the morning was surprised to find Draco still in bed beside her. She yawned and stretched pulling the sheet up with her to cover her naked body. Last night had been, well, enjoyable to say the least and for some reason she wasn't the least bit shy about it. Knowing how gentile his touch could be could prove to be an interesting weapon someday.  
  
'Harry,' she thought, 'Will come today,' so with a smile, she lay back down and called Zally to request breakfast. Not even Draco Malfoy could get to her now.  
  
  
  
Draco awoke to Ginny eating waffles topped with strawberries and whipped cream. He smiled at the sensuous breakfast. He wondered what he would do if he pushed her down and placed the waffle on her stomach then proceeded to eat it with his hands behind his back. Would she giggle and arch her back causing him to get whipped cream all over her face like Pansy had? Or would she scramble to get away? As curious as he was he decided not to push the sex games right now. Yesterday he had made a decision. He was tired of manipulating her, he desired her, wanted to spoil her like a child, treat her like a pet. He casually ran a finger down her leg under the sheets. She smiled down at him, whipped cream in the corners of her mouth. He was genuinely surprised to see that she hadn't jumped at his touch but instead seemed to welcome it.  
  
/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\  
  
Harry was 'enjoying' Breakfast at the Weasleys. The same eerie silence was present as it had been for the last two days. By now, he had pretty much failed to notice. His letter from Hogwarts had informed him that he was going to be Quiditch captain this year, and his thoughts were on game plans. Latter he and Ron were planning on working on some magical charts for their team.  
  
"Harry," Fred said interrupting his thoughts and snapping him back to reality, "isn't that your owl?" he pointed nonchalantly at the window to where a large snowy owl was peering in.  
  
"Huh, what?" his head snapped up, "HEDWIG!!!" he yelled and scrambled to open the window. He roughly patted her on the head before tearing the letter off her leg.  
  
"Calm down Harry. Who is that from?" Mrs. Weasley asked.  
  
"Ron didn't tell you? It's from Ginny! I sent Hedwig to find her." It was as if someone had flicked a switch, the house had its normal clatter back as all the Weasleys present stood and crowded around Harry to get a look at Ginny's letter. Harry untied and unrolled the note.  
  
"Read it aloud. Read it aloud!" Percy said, and Harry couldn't help but be happy that all the old Weasley personalities were coming back again.  
  
"Alright, Alright" he said.  
  
Harry [He read]  
  
I'm alive though not wholly all right. I'm at the Malfoy Manor! [The was a collective gasp of "THE MALFOY MANOR?!?!" from the Weasleys] Draco Malfoy is pervert but I really don't want to expand on that. ["THE BLOODY GIT" George scowled and pounded his fist into his hand] Please help me! Or send someone! I don't know how much longer I can endure this mental and physical torture. [Mrs. Weasley began to weep] Send more owls please? Harry, please help me. I know you already saved me back in my first year and you almost died because of it but please, send someone. PLEASE.  
  
Ginny  
  
"Father we must take this to the ministry. I'm sure Mr. Links (Percy's new boss) will be more then willing to help."  
  
"No," Mr. Weasley said hoarsely.  
  
"No? Arthur, what are you-"  
  
"No Molly, no" Mr. Weasley cut her off.  
  
"Why ever not?!" Molly shrieked.  
  
"If we take this to the ministry I guarantee Lucious will put a stop to any raiding we want to do on his manor and Ginny will be punished. It's in everyone's best interest, except Lucious's of course, to keep communicating like this with her and to plan on saving her by ourselves.  
  
"Where is the Malfoy Manor?" Fred asked.  
  
"I can't be quite sure," he sighed, "but I'll ask around the Ministry and see what I can find out."  
  
"You did get Mr. Boddle's son out of that Jam, do you think he could help you?" Molly asked, "He is, after all, the head of the department for protection of Magical children."  
  
"Like the rest on the ministry Molly," he said dejectedly, "He's in Lucious pocket too. Why do you think Lucious is the one leading the search for Ginny? That's Mr. Boddle's department."  
  
"So what can we do?" Percy asked.  
  
"Plot." Mr. Weasley replied and the house's chattered started up again, more hopeful than before. 


	9. Chapter Nine

"Ginny," Draco said after she had finished her waffle and had lain back down next to him, "Did you enjoy yourself?" Ginny forced herself to blush and turned away. He snuggled up next to her under the covers, "You did didn't you?" Ginny still didn't replay verbally but Draco saw her head nod a yes. There was a few moments of silence, "Do you think we could do it again sometimes?" he finally said. Once again Ginny had to resist the urge to laugh and make some sarcastic remark like, 'Don't really have a choice now do I?' Instead, she kept her back to Malfoy and shrugged. Malfoy, Ginny mused was probably contributing her silence to a 'blushing bride' effect when in truth it was more of a 'conniving mistress' effect. Draco ran a finger down Ginny's back before leaving the bed.  
  
"Draco," she finally spoke distracting him as he pulled on his robes.  
  
"Yes Ginny?"  
  
"Do you think I could have some more books? I'm almost done with that other one?" Draco smiled; yes this girl belonged to him now.  
  
"Sure, I'll bring some by later."  
  
"Thank you," she whispered quietly as she grabbed her robes and went to the toilet as to be sure to be close to the door when Draco left. Obviously some sort of charm protected the door because she couldn't touch it without her skin burning. Draco however was able to touch and open the door quiet easily it seemed. As soon as she heard Draco's footsteps nearing the door she pressed her ear to the bathroom wall to here if he was saying and incantation. When there was no sound except the gentle 'click' of the lock she breathed a sigh of relief. That meant that Draco was simply using his wand to lock a muggle lock so if she could lift whatever charm was on the door she could escape. She always knew living with the twins had its benefit. Being able to get out of locked rooms appeared to be one of them. Next, she realized she would need parchment to write letters on. That's why when she told Draco that she needed a little more time with the book. She ran to the table in the corner of the room where the book was laying and carefully tore out the title page along with the very last page so she could write out a letter to her family. She wanted to able to send it as soon as an owl came. If they could get her some information about the charm on the door and such, then her escape would be relatively easy. That way Harry would think she was tough like Cho Chang, that blasted Ravenclaw seeker he was smitten with. Going over the desk, she grabbed out the quills and a bottle of green ink.  
  
  
  
Hello! [She scribble on the title page of the book.]  
  
Your letter has given me new resolve. I know you can't tell the ministry you found me because Draco (Being the stupid git that he is...) has already boasted that his father is the one leading the search down at the ministry. I'm obviously not allowed to read magic books but tore this page out of literature. If you could research a few things for me I could get out. I need to know about a charm that would make a door (Namely: the one of the room I'm locked in) burning hot to one person (me) and not at all to another (Draco). Can anyone find the counter charm? Also please find out if the Malfoy Manor is on the floo network. I'm assuming it is but I really need to know what room the fireplace is in. If anyone else has any other useful charms to help me get out I'd really REALLY appreciate it. Thanks so much!  
  
With Hope,  
  
Ginny.  
  
  
  
She finished the letter and folded it up. It wasn't until she was tucking it under the mattress in efforts to hide it from Draco that she noticed in horror a large, green, inkblot on her forefinger.  
  
"Shit," she sore, "shit, shit, shit" she ran to the bathroom in hopes of washing them off but water wasn't working. "Shit," she swore once again and ran to check the inkbottle.  
  
  
  
'MELVIN'S MAGICAL WATERPROOF INK!!'  
  
The bottle boasted.  
  
'Guaranteed to survive those rainy owl journeys'  
  
  
  
"Well isn't that just lovely," she spat and turned the bottle over.  
  
  
  
'WARNING'  
  
it read  
  
'MAY CAUSE SKIN TO STAIN FOR UP TO A MONTH'  
  
  
  
"A month?!?" she hissed, "A whole blasted month?!? What am I going to do?!? And why am I talking to myself?!" she said exasperated and through her hands up. Well, she reasoned, she had to say it was ink; there was no avoiding that due to the obvious nature of the stain. Even Draco wouldn't be stupid enough to believe some crap about her writing a love letter to him. And it came to her, there was no real legit way she could be writing but she could be writing something harmless. Draco seemed to be off his little power trip. She sat down and using the other page she had torn out of the back of the book, she wrote a small little story about a women with three and how she dealt with them. It was innocent enough. Malfoy would just think she was daydreaming about getting out and living a complete normal life but it wasn't like she was making any plans. Of course now her only worry was Malfoy noticing the title page was missing too, hopefully he wouldn't be that bright. She hid the story in one of the copies of "Witch Weekly Teen" then added  
  
'P.S. Send a little parchment, quills, and ink too!" to her letter  
  
/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\  
  
The regular livelihood of the Burrow was back in full swing. The house, if possible, was even a little louder. Mrs. Weasley was offering Harry fifth helpings, and muttering things like 'helped my baby out twice'; Mr. Weasely was asking Harry if there were any eclectrical muggle things they could use to save Ginny; Ron was chatting excitedly, Percy was saying things like, "Everyone be quiet, we need a plan"; the explosions coming from the twin's room were even louder then before and were frequently followed by shouts of, "LET'S SEE THAT MALFOY BASTERED SURVIVE THAT!" and as if to top it all off, Hermione was staying with them rambling on about how horrible it was that Malfoy would do such a thing. Yes, after writing Ginny a letter explaining why they couldn't go the ministry, promising help, and giving her a few encouraging words, the chaos was back at the Burrow.  
  
/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\  
  
Draco had decided to take a late lunch in Ginny's room. With him he brought two more romance novels claiming, "I've heard girls like those things." Ginny smiled and took the books with her to set them on the corner table. Ginny took care to hide her hand as must she could, mostly covering it with her knife. However, midway through a conversation about getting away with things in Professor Binn's class Draco stopped mid- sentence and focused his gaze on a blob of green peeking out from behind the knife. She followed his gaze and just as she had planned stuck her hand under her body with a scared yelp.  
  
What's that?" he asked harshly,  
  
"What, what are you talking about Draco?" she stuttered.  
  
"That spot your hand, the one you whipped away and are sitting on now." He leaned over the table and grabbed her arm forcing her had up. "That," he said, "What is that?"  
  
"It's... why... well it's..."  
  
"An ink stain?" he finished.  
  
"No," she said and pulled her hand back, "Of course it's not an ink stain."  
  
"Yes, that's that waterproof ink my father has," he said. He rose and stood over her to intimidate her, "What were you writing." he asked  
  
"N-nothing!" she stuttered wide-eyed.  
  
"What was it Ginny?" he lowed his face inches from her.  
  
"I- I" she said.  
  
"Yes...." The calm demeaner was unnerving her.  
  
"I-" she chose this moment to dissolve into tears, "I got bored... and... and I love to write," she sobbed, "You re-remember ...the... the journal... from... f-first year... and..." she whipped her eyes, "Well... I got... got... boarded and.... decided to... to write a... a little story... I tore out the last.... p-p-page of the book. I'm s-so...sorry." She choked, as if trying to stop the tears from coming. Malfoy looked relived, partly because she hadn't been completely going behind his back and partly because she was sobbing so hard at the mere thought of getting him upset.  
  
"Where is it?" he sighed.  
  
"In a copy of W-witch Weekly" Draco walked over to Ginny's table and flipped through the issues until Ginny's little story fell to the ground. He gingerly picked it up and skimmed thought it, relived to see a harmless little story. 'Better check it through with father' he thought, 'just to be sure' and he started towards to door.  
  
"Where are you going?" she asked.  
  
"My father." he said, "to give this to him." Ginny couldn't resist the opportunity to stroke his ego.  
  
"No," she gasped, "can't- can't you just deal with it?"  
  
"Why, is this more then it seems? Scared my father will see it for what it is?"  
  
"No." she said truthfully, "I just- I'm scared of your father."  
  
"Aren't you scared of me?" he asked.  
  
"I- well- I'm not as scared as you as I am your father," she said, " I guess I figure you understand, you see how lonely I am. Your father, he'll beat me again or, or worse." she stuttered  
  
"I won't let him lay a finger on you," he said.  
  
"You won't?" she looked up at him eyes wide.  
  
"Nope, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to punish you for going behind my back." Ginny didn't look up, scared as he raised his wand. It was the first real emotion she was portraying that she was actually feeling since her little outbreak. To her relief though Draco simply pointed his wand at the books.  
  
"Accoi books!" he said and the books flew to his outstretched hands. He turned and left the room. She breathed a sigh of relief as he turned and left the room, then rose to wipe the phony tears from her face and go to the bathroom in order to wash her face, any remnants of the scared, stuttering girl Draco had just observed gone.  
  
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()  
  
I've gotten some reviews about this actually being a smutfic from a few different people (though I suspect it's just one person using different names...) I don't think this is a smutfic at all. True, it's a little racy but that's why it's R. I consider a smutfic something that's just sex with no plot. I'm aiming for this story to be about Ginny overcoming odds. This doesn't have any real 'sex scenes' in it there's just sex in it. Honestly, if you think it's the worst fic ever, why did you bother getting to chapter 8? 


	10. Chapter Ten

Draco walked to his father's study.  
  
"Ahh, Draco." Mr. Malfoy said, "Come for help on you summer homework?"  
  
"No Father, I'm afraid it's Ginny once again."  
  
"If I help you with this will you start and finish your summer work?"  
  
"Yes father."  
  
"Well Draco, what is it?"  
  
"She was tearing pages out of books and writing on them. I noticed when there was an ink spot on her forefinger. Here," he said handing his father the paper. "I just wanted to make sure it's nothing more than it seems." Mr. Malfoy took the paper from his soon and glanced over it.  
  
"It appears to be a only short story of sorts, wishful thinking of getting out probably. Harmless daydreaming really."  
  
"Okay"  
  
"Draco, is this girl distracting you?"  
  
"Of course not Father!" Draco said wide-eyed.  
  
"You are a terrible liar son." Mr. Malfoy said matter-of-factly.  
  
Draco sighed, "Well yes- she is, but I promise I'll get my homework done." he said quickly.  
  
"I think I'll put a repelling charm on her room so you can't visit her."  
  
"What? Oh please no! I promise I'll get my homework done."  
  
"I'm sure you will but to ensure that you get it done promptly and well, I am simply going to forbid you to see her."  
  
"Father I-"  
  
"Enough!" his father interrupted him, "I don't ask much of you, just that you go do your homework and do it well. And don't give me that look!" Mr. Malfoy said turning and glaring at Draco who was now slouching and glaring through narrowed eyes at his father, "Don't pull that 'poor little rich boy' routine you've become so fond of. All I ask is that you do your homework and get it done promptly and well!!"  
  
"Fine," Draco finally yielded. "Can I at least bring it to you to check?"  
  
"Check yes, but don't expect me to do it for you."  
  
"Alright." he signed, not bothering to hide his annoyance.  
  
"Good luck with your essays." Lucius Malfoy called cheerfully after his son. Draco simply raised a hand to acknowledge his fathers words.  
  
As soon as he reached his room he let out a loud yell of frustration and slammed the door, grateful for the silencing charm he had bestowed upon his room in years past. Only his father could vex him this much. Merlin's Beard! Why did he have to do his homework now? It was only the second week of August!!! He still had over two weeks until September 1st! He didn't see why his father wouldn't make a house elf do it for him like most of his other friends' fathers did. He yelled again and levitated the first breakable thing he saw (a clock) then burst it into a hundred pieces. He sat there and cooled down for a second before repairing it. As if he wasn't ahead enough ahead of the rest of his classmates because his father had gotten the ministry to turn a blind eye so he could use magic over the summer. He mused as he roughly pulled his Herbology off his shelf and slammed it down onto his desk. He sat down with another "ARG" and began to write his essay.  
  
Ginny was staring up at the ceiling for lack of anything better to do. She had laid down planning on plotting ways of likely escape but without meaning to she had allowed her mind to wander to Harry being there when she had gotten back and looking at her as if in a new light. She was in the middle of picturing herself landing on Malfoy's new Firebolt which she had stolen to fly back to her family (of course she hadn't quite worked out the details as to how yet...) and Harry would be saying something like, "Wow! That's some great flying! You know Gryffindor could use a chaser!" when Lucius Malfoy appeared right next to her bed. She screamed and scampered back curling herself into a little ball in the corner.  
  
"Relax," Lucius said, "I'm only here to charm this room so Draco can't enter."  
  
"Wh-Why?" she asked in spite of her fear.  
  
"Because, little girl, my son finds you very distracting and he must finish his summer homework." he said, "Now, shush, I need to put a charm on here.' Mr. Malfoy said and finished the charm.  
  
"How does it work?" she asked, part curiosity, part hoping it wouldn't hinder her escape/rescue.  
  
"Why do you want to know?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
"Boredom." she shrugged, "With Draco not coming back for a bit it seems I'm going to experience a lot of It." he looked her up and down and weighed her answer.  
  
"It's simple enough really," he finally supplied, "Every time Draco comes near here the floor around him will start to sink in."  
  
"So by the time he reaches my door he'll be ear deep in carpet?"  
  
"Exactly" Ginny giggle in spite of herself.  
  
"What's so funny girl?"  
  
"The thought of Draco waist deep in carpet." Mr. Malfoy glanced towards the door a small smile turned up the corners of his mouth as he pictured his disobedient son swimming though the hall.  
  
"Would be a bit of a spectacle wouldn't it?" Mr. Malfoy said as he turned to leave.  
  
"Mr. Malfoy!" Ginny called, as he was about to shut the door. He turned towards her, "Mr. Malfoy, Draco told me you're leading the search at the Ministry."  
  
"I am."  
  
"I'm not stupid enough to believe it's going well or anything but my father, how is he? Is my family okay? Lucius studied Ginny, her eyes were round and pleading, and if truth were told she really was genuinely interesting. The fact that she was making herself seem more desperate was really just a bonus.  
  
"Your father and as far as I know, family, are doing just fine," then as if on an afterthought he added, "They all miss you very much."  
  
"Thank you." Ginny said legitimately grateful. She really hadn't gotten a letter back from her parents yet and was very curious to know how they were doing. Mr. Malfoy nodded and shut the door.  
  
Just Two hours later, after Ginny had planned out about thirty different ways she could escape, each more ludicrous than the last, she heard the ever-joyous tapping on the window pain. It was Hermes, Percy's owl. It took all her self-control not to screech with joy at the though of getting an owl. She wasn't so excited about receiving a letters as being able to send hers. The letter she got from her family was much as she had expected. The handwriting was unmistakably Mr. Weasley's and Ginny could just picture in her mind eye what the scene looked like surrounding the letter. Mr. Weasley would be seated at the scrubbed wooded table surrounded by a mass of red hair (and possibly a little black?) the owners of the hair all shouting their contribution's to the letter.  
  
Dear Ginny, [the letter read]  
  
Hello! We miss you so much! Hedwig just brought us your letter! We're so sorry to hear that you're at the Malfoy Manor. As you probably already figured out we can't go the Ministry because Mr. Malfoy will just cover it up and we're guessing you'd be punished. Of course if you feel differently, (honestly) tell us and we'll go right to the ministry. You're Mother is shouting in my ear to 'tell my baby I love her' [Ginny could just picture Molly going 'ARTHUR' after seeing what Mr. Weasley wrote.] The twins of course, are always looking for new test subjects for the Wesley's Wizard's Wheeze and hope to find a certain silver hair Slytherin come the start of next term. ['Mom left the room?' Ginny reasoned]. Ron, (who's been made a chaser by the way) along with Harry (who's Quiditch captain) pledge to beat Slytherin in every game they can this year, winning every single one in your honor. [In spite of early fantasy, the thought of Harry telling the team to 'win for Ginny' thrilled her beyond belief and she couldn't help but giggle in delight]. Percy wishes to remind you to keep forming plans and 'hang in there'. I hope you're okay. You're a strong girl Ginny; you've grown up with six brothers and I believe you can take on one Malfoy.  
  
I love you,  
  
Dad, Mom, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and Harry  
  
She read over the letter a couple of times. It felt nice to have someone really caring about her again. She was also quite honored by her father's statement. After she had the letter pretty much memorized she went to the bed both to retrieve her letter and hide this one away. She tied her letter to Hermes's leg and sent him off through the window. With a tired and happy sigh, even despite the fact she would be bored to death for a few days, she called Zally and asked for her lunch.  
  
|||||||||||||||||||  
  
Draco Malfoy was sitting in his room having just finished his transfiguration essay and was not working on BSing his way through a fill- in-the-blank potions scroll Snap he given them. It didn't really matter if he got the answers right. Snape had always been nice to him in case Voldermort came back and he needed Draco to put a good word in for him with his father. Draco enjoyed the power and was constantly debating weather or not to tell his father that he believed Snape was loyal to Vodermort. So far, he was leaning towards yes, more so because he didn't want Snape to stop favoring him then actually thinking he was loyal. Of course he wasn't. Either way, what he told his father could change depending on his marks for the term. Zally suddenly appeared before him.  
  
"Ginny wants lunch Master Draco." she squeaked.  
  
"You can give Ginny meals whenever you like from now on Zally," Draco said distractedly, still filling in random potions ingredients, "You don't have to ask me anymore unless she wants more then three meals or something besides food. Understand?"  
  
"Yes Master Draco" Zally bobbed and disappeared with the slights pop before Draco returned his full attention to his potions homework.  
  
  
  
Two days after Ginny sent her letter, where she was constantly bored, and Draco was constantly trying to figure out his homework so he could have Ginny back found the Burrow bustling with excitement. The Weasley clan had just received Ginny's letter.  
  
Hello! [Mr. Weasley read above the joyous chaos.]  
  
Your letter has given me new resolve. I know you can't tell the ministry you found me because Draco (Being the stupid git that he is...) has already boasted that his father is the one leading the search down at the ministry. I'm obviously not allowed to read magic books but tore this page out of literature. If you could research a few things for me I could get out. I need to know about a charm that would make a door (Namely: the one of the room I'm locked in) burning hot to one person (me) and not at all to another (Draco). Can anyone find the counter charm? Also please find out if the Malfoy Manor is on the floo network. I'm assuming it is but I really need to know what room the fireplace is in. If anyone else has any other useful charms to help me get out I'd really REALLY appreciate it. Thanks so much!  
  
With Hope,  
  
Ginny.  
  
"OOOO," Hermione screamed. "I know that spell! I've read all about it. I have the book with me that will give us the counter charm. Let me go get it!!!" Hermione screeched and was up the stair skipping toward Ginny's room where she was staying before anyone could get a word in edgewise.  
  
"What's the name for the Malfoy Manor and the floo Network?" Harry asked quietly.  
  
"I don't know" Mr. Weasley said, "But I'm willing to guess it's just Malfoy Manor. Paranoid as he is, Lucius isn't very creative."  
  
"What happens if you say a name that isn't on the floo Network?"  
  
"You end up in the spot with the name closes to what you said."  
  
"So if I was to take my invisibility cloak and a little extra floo powder with me I could end up in the Malfoy Manor, or somewhere else for that matter, then come right back?" Harry reasoned.  
  
"You've got an invisibility cloak?" One of the twins said in awe. Harry chose to ignore them.  
  
"That's a fabulous idea Harry!" Percy said, "Surprised I didn't think of it myself really." Everyone rolled his eyes at that.  
  
"Yeah, great idea." Rob pitched in, "that way we can tell Ginny where the floo fireplace is."  
  
"It seems so dangerous!" Mrs. Weasely said. Harry didn't care though; Mr. and Mrs. Weasely had been so nice to him that he wanted to repay them somehow, and Helping them get Ginny back seemed like a good way to do it.  
  
"I want to help Mrs. Weasley," Harry said.  
  
"Oh Alright!" Mrs. Weasley said and went to the kitchen only to return seconds later with a "Magic Seal' Tupperware container which she put floo powered in.  
  
"Just to be sure the fire doesn't get it." she explained. Harry nodded and ran to Ron's room in order to obtain his cloak from his trunk. On the way he passed Hermione, who had a book in hand.  
  
"Where are you going?" she asked him.  
  
"To get my cloak. I'm using to floo network to try and help Ginny."  
  
"Oh!" Hermione said and tore out the page the book was open to, "give her this it's the counter charm to that charm on the door she was asking about."  
  
"Thanks." Harry said.  
  
"There's a problem though," Hermione chirped, "It can only be used when the one who charmed the door in the first place is in the room and can only be done from the inside."  
  
"Well that's a lovely counter charm now isn't it?" Harry said sarcastically.  
  
"There's more. The charm makes the door unbreakable so it's impossible to just blast it apart."  
  
"Hermione, I'm not really planning on finding Ginny just finding the floo fireplace."  
  
"Oh, well take this just in case." she said and thrust the paper into Harry's hand.  
  
"Okay," Harry said and stuffed it into his pocket. Then turned and ran up the stairs.  
  
"Oh and Harry," Hermione said.  
  
"Yes?" Harry replied turning to face her.  
  
"Be careful."  
  
"I will." Harry nodded and continued to his trunk upstairs finally retrieving his cloak and heading back downstairs to the hearth.  
  
"BE CAREFUL!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, "What on earth will we tell you aunt and uncle if you get hurt?" she asked exasperated.  
  
"You welcome," he chuckled, "Trust me they'll be more upset that you let me come back from danger then if I died." Mrs. Weasley gave a disapproving sigh but obviously cared more for her child and had faith in Harry. Harry put the cloak on and grabbed some floo powder. "MALFOY MANOR!" he called as he stepped into the fire after throwing the floo powder in. Harry felt himself being sucked through the fireplace and whirling around, tumbling through fireplace after fireplace. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Harry landed with a soft thud on the floor of an elaborate room. He glanced around looking for some sign he had landed at his intended destination. The fireplace he had come out of had carved snakes moving up and down it's hearth. Unfortunately, there was no sign proclaiming, 'MALFOY MANOR' or anything of the like, but it was still quite evident that he had landed in the home of a propionate wizarding family. The room was large with priceless moving pictures placed around the grand walls. He observed the dark artifacts dotting the walls and shelves and couldn't help but wonder if all the wealthy families in the Wizarding World had dark connections. Again he looked hopefully around but nothing of importance caught his eye. Unless... he studied the fireplace he had just tumbled out of, unless of course he could talk to the snakes.  
  
"Er- hello," he said but had the strangest feeling he was speaking in English. Harry closed his eyes concentrating on the snakes' movement. "Er- hello," he tried again, but this time he felt something change and was pretty sure he was hissing. "I was wondering if you could perhaps tell me where I am?" The snakes turned to look at him and opened their mouths to speak but no sound came out. "Could you at least nod or something?" Again the snakes did nothing and Harry came to the rather reluctant conclusion that these were only acknowledging his existence and he couldn't talk with them because they weren't carved by a parseltongue. That left him with only one choice, he must go and find some proof he was at the Malfoy Manor. Checking to see if he still had his extra floo powder and instinctively fingering his wand, he began to creep down the hallways of the stately home. With every step he took he glanced around looking for some proof he had indeed landed in the Malfoy Manor. However it wasn't his eyes that brought him proof but his ears.  
  
"Zally!" a female voice called, a voice that seemed remarkably familiar voice, "Go get me a book will you?" Harry pressed his ear to the wall to listen, he knew that voice; it belonged to Ginny!  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"Master Draco says no books Ginny," a voice that unmistakably belonged to a house elf squeaked.  
  
"Fine," pause, "Well get out then!" There was a terrified 'eep' and Harry heard a tiny pop indicating the elf's retreat.  
  
"Ginny!" he hissed through the door and wrapped his knuckles on the door to get her attention, "Ginny," he hissed again.  
  
  
  
Inside the room Ginny was pacing out of pure boredom and trying to guess if her family had gotten the letter yet.  
  
"Ginny," she heard someone hiss, a knock then another call of "Ginny" she went hesitantly towards the door where the sound was emerging.  
  
"Y-yes," she said bewildered.  
  
"It's Harry." Her eyes lit up with joy but soon figured it was probably just Malfoy playing a joke and trying to see what she'd do.  
  
"Draco, is that you?" she hissed, "This is terribly mean of you, you know I miss my family." she ranted and wondered briefly if she should play innocent, "Are you allowed to come back now? I've missed you!"  
  
"Ginny, what are you saying?! Missing Malfoy, besides it's me, Harry! We got your letter. I wanted to find out where the floo fireplace was for you but I wasn't sure if I had the right house. It's four rooms down the hall on the right. The fireplace has moving carved snakes on it by the way."  
  
"Oh Harry!" she said, "Forgive me, I have to play dumb and helpless around Malfoy. I'm so happy to hear from you!"  
  
"Ginny," Harry said suddenly serious, "Your brothers and me are going to beat Malfoy into a bloody pulp when we get back to school." Something about this statement bothered her. Here she was doing everything she could, playing Malfoy for all it was worth and they were just interested in beating Malfoy up. She didn't have too much time to ponder this though because Harry went right on talking and Ginny realized with a start he was already mid sentence.  
  
"-and she gave me this," he was saying and slipped something under the door. Careful not to touch the door less she get burned, Ginny picked up the paper to find it was the counter charm.  
  
"Oh thanks, with this I'll be able to escape! At this rate I sho-"  
  
"Shhh!" Harry hissed interrupting her, "Someone's coming!"  
  
  
  
Outside the door Harry halted and flattened himself against the wall. Inside he heard footsteps presumably running to hide the sheet he had just passed to her and look casual. Harry watched as the nearing footsteps, the ones coming from down the hall rounded the corner to reveal none other then Draco Malfoy accompanied by his father.  
  
"That was quality homework Draco. You deserve to have the girl back." Mr. Malfoy said patting Draco firmly on the shoulder. Harry thought he was going to be sick. Imagine! Someone talking about Ron's little sister like that. "Wait here Draco." Mr. Malfoy said, "I must take the repelling charm off." Mr. Malfoy entered Ginny's room.  
  
"I have good news Ginny." Harry heard him say, "You won't half to be so lonely anymore. Draco has finished his homework and I've given you back to him." Harry half expected Ginny to spout out a line like, "I belong to no one, least of all you." but the muffled reply seemed to be in pleasant tones. Harry heard Mr. Malfoy say some sort of incantation and call to Draco who smirked as if he knew Harry was there watching him and walked in. When the door opened he caught a fleeting glimpse of Ginny. Harry was quite surprised to see her standing with her hair falling freely down her back in green robes looking well fed and bathed. All these weeks had been picturing her half starved in rags chained to a wall in the Malfoy dungeons but Ginny looked good maybe even- dare he say it- pretty. Mr. Malfoy exited, the look of pure parental pride on his face made Harry sick. Mr. Malfoy (thankfully) walked in the opposite directing of the floo fireplace. Harry made his exit not wanting to imagine Draco doing anything to Ron's little sister and definitely not wanting to report anything of the sort to Mrs. Weasley.  
  
"The Burrow!" he said upon reaching the fireplace and was whooshed away. Moments later he fell from the Weasley's fireplace covered in soot and head still spinning.  
  
George offered him a hand. "Did you find it?" he asked eagerly.  
  
"Yeah, I found Ginny too. She seems okay." Harry said deciding he best leave out Ginny mistaking him for Malfoy and saying she'd missed him.  
  
"Was she well fed? Did she have clean clothes? How was she??"  
  
"Ginny looked pr- fine," Harry had almost said pretty but decided he didn't want four Weasley brothers beating on him of which he was pretty sure he could only take Percy.  
  
Back at the Malfoy Manor Draco was entering the room.  
  
"Draco," Ginny said and jumped up, "You've no idea how happy I am to see you. I was just so lonely without you!" she rambled on and was positively delighted to see Draco's face twist into a prideful smirk. Men, Ginny realized, especially the ones who found you attractive, were far too easy to manipulate.  
  
"So you've missed me huh?" He said as he pulled her into a tight embrace, "Well I've missed you too." he whispered as he began to kiss her neck, "How about we make up for lost time?" As good as Draco's mouth felt on her skin she knew she couldn't possibly do this now. Draco had to come back at night so she could have time to study the charm and then she could get his wand and perform the charm well he was asleep in the Morning. If they did anything now she was pretty sure he would just leave after he was done. She forced herself to blush and wiggled from Malfoy's grip stepping back a few paces. Draco let out a frustrated moan and reached out to pull her back. The same process was repeated again.  
  
"Hey." he said and pulled her close again, "I thought we agreed."  
  
"We, well we did but, but don't you think that maybe you could ummm.... well that you could..."  
  
"Yes?" he asked.  
  
"Come back later tonight," she mumbled still looking down and forcing her cheeks to burn with feigned embarrassment.  
  
"Tonight? Why?" he balked in contrast to Ginny's small quivering voice. Ginny wanted Malfoy to believe that she was still to shy to do anything without the cover of darkness but this would prove difficult because she obviously couldn't just come out and say it.  
  
"I just ummm just, well just..."  
  
"Yes" Draco asked he had stopped trying to advance on her and was now just leaning back to look at her.  
  
"I...I," she stuttered again. Draco studied her for a second and Ginny felt his body relax around her. He removed one hand from her hips and used it to lift her chin only to find Ginny wouldn't meet his eyes and was blushing furiously.  
  
"Why so shy suddenly?" he asked softly. Ginny had once been scared of this soft side but now saw it was to her great advantage. She knew she was his pet and when he acted like this he was at his easiest state to manipulate. Ginny seized the opportunity to glance out of the window. Draco followed her gaze and chuckled his face twisting into something that was even more prideful, a task that Ginny had previously thought was impossible. With a wave of his wand the room went Dark and the torches flickered the slightest light. This was not as Ginny had planed but now she had no choice but to let Draco pick her up and drop her on the bed.  
  
"Better?" he whispered huskily into her ear as he began to slide his hand up her thigh. She didn't reply so he kissed her neck until he found that one spot that made her gasp. "Better Ginny?" he wasn't going to let her get away completely with being bashful, he still loved to be in power.  
  
"Mmmm." Ginny let out a throaty moan for a reply. She forgot her worries about the charm and let Malfoy's touch work it's own own sort of magic.  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Okay okay, I'll admit that last little thing was a bit smutful but I still hold this has a plot thus is not a smutfic. Sorry bout the last cliffy, actually I wrote all this last Sunday in the church bathroom when I was skipping church but I didn't have the time to type up the whole thing. I'm evil, I know. Well school's out now so I should have plenty of time to write. Oh and I stole one line from Ever After. 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Ginny was quite delighted to find that Malfoy did in fact stay for a bit after he finished with her. Of course she hadn't had time to read counter charm or anything but as Draco dozed off Ginny got a chance to do some very simple magic, just to make sure wasn't to rusty to perform the difficult counter charm. Ginny quietly crept out of bed making sure not to wake Draco. He stirred just a bit when she climbed over him but appeared to go right back to sleep. First she grabbed her robes and pulled them over her own head. His robes were lying about five feet from the bed where Ginny had thrown them forty-five minutes ago. She picked them up and the wand fell out of wherever Draco had stored it causing a dull thud to echo across the room. Her eyes widen in shock and horror but darted to Draco to see he was still lying peacefully where he had been before. She grabbed the wand before she could change her mind and hurried to the bathroom. 

"Lumos," she said and to her great delight the wand lit up. It felt so good to be doing magic again. "Nox." The wand went dark. "Accio soap!" and the little bit of soap near the sink flew to her hands. Ginny let out the smallest giggle of delight at the tingling warmth in her fingers from doing magic again and then a wide Cheshire Cat grin spread across her face at the thought of getting out. Surly she could be home in a week at most. Draco came to visit her almost everyday it would be easy enough to get the wand again. 

With a disappointed sigh, Ginny tiptoed back to bed replacing Malfoy's wand on the way. As she tried to climb back over Malfoy without waking him up, she sincerely wished she had thought to topple of him towards the door instead of the wall. She succeeded, however she must have disrupted him enough to make a difference because only a minute after she slid her arm back around his lean torso he groggily opened his eyes. He looked at her, running his fingers from her hand all the way up her arm, past her shoulders and onto her face. 

"Mmmm," he said lazily as his fingers brushed a few stray tendrils away from her eyes, "What a lovely afternoon nap. I dare say I should tire myself out more often." Ginny forced herself to blush. "You look cute when you blush." Draco said. Ginny was taken aback. It was pretty obvious that Malfoy found her attractive. Why else would she be lying here naked in bed with him? But that comment was something a little deeper. How often had she pictured Harry quirking his head to the side and saying something like that, "You know Ginny, you're really cute when you laugh." and then he'd smile slyly and look away. 'You look cute when you blush.' went beyond sexual urges it was almost- there was really no other word for it- sweet. "Gin," he said still looking at her. 

"Mmm-hmm?" 

"Do you miss your home?" A mini battle took place deep within Ginny's subconscious while her face remained the same. What would she do? Tell the truth about how she missed everything and everyone, or lie and say not really, she got teased all the time anyways. 

"I miss- the noise." she said slowly to stall. 

"The noise?" 

"Yes, it's just so quiet here." 

"So your house is very noisy?" 

"Oh yes, what with the twins' goal being to find a new way to blow things up daily, and with seven of us at home it's never quiet. Add that to the ghoul up in the attack I think we have about five minutes of silence in the dead of night, and that's only in December when the ghoul visits his second cousin two towns over." 

"How on earth do you live with so much noise?" Draco asked wrinkling his nose as if Ginny had suggested her house was made of dragon dung and she missed the smell of it. 

"It's fun," she said without thinking. She had the feeling Draco didn't really like her as her 2D-follow-Draco-in-whatever-he-does self not the 3D-I'm-a-real-person self. She turned onto her back and Malfoy's fingers fell from her cheek to play with her hair spread out on the pillow, "there's always something to do," she explained, "I don't see how you make it through summer with no one to talk to." 

"I have my ways," he grinned wickedly at her. She decided to ignore it. An idea was forming in her head. Malfoy seemed to a bit more human today. Perhaps if she said how much she missed everyone and started to sob on his bare chest he would find her even more hopeless and she could elicit some sympathy from him. "Well we both know how I keep entertained during the summer. What do you do?" 

"Lots" she said with a tiny smile and decided the idea was indeed a good one, "We play Quiditch all the time, and at the end of the summer when Harry comes they all practice and gloat about how Gryffindor is going to win the cup. I miss that, and I miss Mum yelling at the twins, and I even miss Percy telling us about all the 'exciting' things going on at the ministry, and watching what food I accept from Fred and George, and teasing Ron about Hermione," she started talking faster her voice getting more and more teary by the second, "and- and," she faltered and threw her hands over her face and started to weep uncontrollably. She leaned her body against Malfoy's, spreading her long red curls over his chest. Years of gentleman training brought Malfoy's arms around her, to hold her small form still being rocked by sobs she was apparently trying to contain. 

"Shhhh" he cooed, "I'm sure they miss you too." Ginny was so surprised by Malfoy's ability to be soothing she almost forgot to cry. 

Draco Malfoy observed the crying figure of Ginny Weasley and how her naked body was pressed temptingly up to his. 

"Shhh..." he said quietly, "calm down. It'll be okay." Suddenly he went rigid. What was he doing? Gentleman or not, he wasn't supposed to comfort Virgin Weasley! Especially when her feelings revolved around missing the family he had stolen her from. He wanted to treat her like a pet, and a pet wasn't cooed at when it wanted to run away. He pushed her bluntly off him and rose from the bed. Blankly he gathered his robes and pulled them over her head. He left the room without even looking back. 

"D-Draco, wh-where are you going?" he heard Ginny sniffling but the once-again-cold-hearted Draco Malfoy didn't look back. 

**A/N:** I had a few reviews saying that Ginny is Out Of Character. I'm not too sure about that. The books are in Limited Third Person narrative meaning that we only see what Harry sees. Ginny has a huge crush on Harry making her drop things whenever he's around. I think Ginny is actually somewhat outgoing, just a bit star struck when she's around Harry because Ginny steals the Tom Riddle's diary back from Harry's room when she sees him with it and because Ron says that Ginny, "never usually shuts-up". 

**Another quick note: **I started writing this chapter and it took a different turn then I wanted it to so I went back and changed it. If any _really_ wants to read the original version, email me (celestialangelxv@hotmail.com) and I'll send it to you. Be warned, it's not proofread and it sort of just stops when I realized it sucked. 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Ginny sat up in bed and wondered what she had done. All she knew was that Draco had gone from soothing to rigid in a split second. She worried. What had caused this drastic change in him? Well one thing was obvious; sobbing was NOT a good idea at all. Draco must have suddenly realized she was talking about her family and was intending to punish her. At least that's the only logical conclusion she could come to seeing as how he left out exactly the way as last time he had decided to leave her alone for a week. Ginny groaned aloud, not wishing to repeat those horribly boring seven days. What would she do if Draco left her alone again? Not only would she not be able to get his wand to perform the counter charm, she would have nothing to do either. Of course, she had Harry and everyone's letters to keep her entertained but those lasted for five minutes and only came every two days at most. She got up and got dressed quickly, as if doing things fast may make the time Draco was away with his wand pass faster. Only, she noticed a spot from today's breakfast on her robes. 

"Zally!" she called testily. The elf appeared with a little pop. 

"Yes Ginny?" 

"There's a spot on these robes! I need new ones." 

"Yes Ginny, right away." she said and was gone with a pop, returning half a second later with new robes. 

"You don't have to approve my request with Draco anymore?" she asked the elf, interpreting its hasty return. 

"No Ginny." 

"Expand," Ginny said. She had grown used to the house elf and had long ago given up on manners with it. It was after all, only a house elf and the more she ordered it the happier it seemed to be. 

"Master Draco sir just said that Zally didn't have to ask him for things for Ginny anymore." 

"When?" she questioned. 

"Three days ago Ginny," she said 

"And why don't you call me miss?" 

"Master Draco Zally was supposed to address Ginny as just Ginny and nothing else." 

"How many house elves do the Malfoy's own?" she asked out of pure curiosity. 

"Five Ginny," 

"Do you like working for the Malfoys?" she asked. 

"Yes!" the elf said, "Zally is a good elf and is a good house elf to her family!!" Ginny rolled her eyes. 

"Dismissed." she said and the elf vanished. House elves were pathetic, simple-minded creatures, yet Ginny couldn't help but reflect how much she had to act like a house elf to get Draco to do what she wanted. It was stupid. But now what would she do? If Draco wasn't here she was powerless. She sincerely hoped Draco had just remembered something very important. Something that would make him go rigid because he had forgotten to do it and it had to be done right away. 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ 

A week after the first time Harry had gone to find the fireplace the Weasleys decided it was time for another visit. After Harry had delivered the counter-charm they were certain Ginny would be with them again soon and thus, hadn't bothered to send Ginny any owls with this assumption in mind. However, after a week of silence and no appearing Ginny, everyone was beginning to worry she had been caught or something went wrong and whole heartily agreed it was time for Harry to pay another visit to the Malfoy Manor. This time Ron was to accompany him. It was decided that only kids should go for now. The ministry couldn't do too much to them. It was common knowledge that Harry and Ron were arch enemies with Draco Malfoy at school and all the Weasleys hoped the Ministry would only perceive it to be a harmless school prank carried only a bit to far. And Minister Fudge would hardly punish _Harry Potter_. 

"Malfoy Manor," Ron said throwing a bit of floo powder in and Harry followed suit. Harry felt the now familiar yet still highly dreaded spinning start and seconds later there they were in the Malfoy Manor, landing with a small _thud_ and a muffled 'ugh' from Harry. Mr. Malfoy was working at his desk across the room and looked up, his face betraying how annoyed he would be to receive visitors at the time. However he looked back down shaking his head and muttering, "stupid house elves break everything." Mr. Malfoy returned to scribbling with a long peacock feather quill. Very carefully, Ron and Harry shuffled towards the door and Harry silently steered Ron in the direction of Ginny's room. 

Meanwhile, six days of almost constant worrying and anticipation of Draco's wand's return was beginning to take its toll on Ginny. She hadn't gotten any letters from her parents and was worried that Draco or Mr. Malfoy had intercepted them. What if Malfoy didn't come to visit her before he left for school? She wouldn't be able to get out without that wand, and he had to be inside the room too! What would she do to for human company? Was her only option for interaction with a living thing Zally until Christmas? And then, what if he didn't come home for Christmas? Thoughts like these had been spinning through Ginny's head for the last day. What if they were just going to leave her here and let her go insane? Or worse, what if they were going to use her for some sort of ritual or torture her for information? Not that she had any. To top it all off, she was starting to feel ill, but she waved away her constant nausea with stress. She wasn't completely bored, just lonely, due to Zally's sudden appearance with parchment, new ink, quills and books so she had found something to occupy her time. Zally had appeared just three days ago saying, "Master Draco Sir thought Ginny might be bored," and since than Ginny had been writing. Still nothing filled in for human companionship. There was of course the charm to keep her busy too. By now she was certain she could perform the charm given the chance. The sheet not only contained the charm and a brief history but also a lengthy section on the theory behind it. Ginny was completely baffled about what she had done and how she could get Malfoy back under her thumb. Apparently damsel in distress would no longer work? Seductress maybe? But oh that would be a hard change to make. So deep was she in thought about all the possible problems and solutions that a sudden knock near the door caused her to jump and she had to muffle a startled cry. 

"Ginny!" she heard Ron's voice say. 

"RON," she flew to the door and was so excited about seeing anyone, let alone her favorite brother, she forgot about the charm. "Ouch!!" she hissed as the door burned her skin. 

"You okay Ginny?" Ron asked. 

"Yes, it's just this charm. What are you doing here? Why haven't you sent any owls?" 

"We thought you'd be back by now, so I'm checking on you. Harry's with me by the way. Why aren't you back? We're all worried sick!" 

"Hey Harry," Ginny said absentmindedly, "Oh Malfoy hasn't come to see me and I was planning on getting his wand while he slept in the morning after he well, you know-" about now Harry vowed to kill Malfoy, "-but I haven't seen him for a week! I have no clue what I'm going to do!" 

"Is there anything we can do?" Harry asked. 

"No, nothing at all. Unless either one of you knows how to do the Imperious Curse. Or happens to be Draco Malfoy." 

"Polyjuice Potion!!" Harry suddenly said. 

"Wouldn't work," Ginny informed then dejectedly, "For one you couldn't get inside without Malfoy's wand and even if you sent it to me the sheet specifically said Polyjuice potion wouldn't work." 

"Oh, Sorry," Harry said. 

"Can we bring you anything else?" Ron asked earnestly. 

"Not really, they're feeding me and all," she sighed. 

"Footsteps!!" one of the boys hissed. Ginny ran back to the bed, grabbing a book on the way to look casual. The two boys outside the door flatten themselves against a wall. But hearts beating loudly the watched as Lucius walked briskly by not even coming close to hitting them. Once he turned the corner and the footsteps died away they both ran back to the door, "Gin," Harry said wrapping his knuckles lightly, "Ginny? It was just Mr. Malfoy passing by." 

"Harry? Ron?" she said approaching the door her voice serious yet, shaking, "That was way to close, I don't want you guys coming back. I'm already on thin ice for, something, but if Mr. Malfoy had found you there, I don't think he'd ever let me out. That's not to mention how much danger Harry is in by being here. Just- just go on with your lives." she said, voice still audibly shaking. 

"Ginny we can't!" that was Harry. 

"But you have to! Look, I don't know if I'll even get out until Christmas. Go to Diagon Alley and get your school stuff. Don't let the Malfoy's know you know I'm here." 

"Gin, no way!" Ron protested. 

"Yes," she hissed, "For all we know I'm serving as bait for Harry too! Just send me owls to keep me busy." 

"Gin-" 

"I mean it!" she said. "Look I've dealt with Malfoy so far haven't I? Once he goes to school he obviously can't bother me too much. I'll find a way out of here." 

"Ginny, we're worried!" Harry's voice spoke up. 

"Don't be. I'll be fine. Now go!" she commanded through the door. 

"I'm not saying to ignore me but just don't come anymore! You've given me everything I need. Now stop putting us all in danger! I'm thankful that you came but please, I don't need Mum and Dad worrying about me more. Tell them I'm fine and that I'm really close to getting out. Don't forget to tell everyone I miss them very much." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yes, now go." 

"Alright Ginny," Harry said hesitantly still not sure if he should accept her reasoning, "hang in there, don't let Malfoy get you down." 

"I won't" 

"Bye Ginny. We all miss you." Rob chipped in. 

"I miss everyone very much too. Bye." she said. 

"Bye." Harry said and started back towards the floo room, grateful that they had seen Mr. Malfoy walk by. 

The sound of their retreating steps brought tears to her eyes. Right then and there she made a decision, she would do whatever it took to get out. 

~ 

Late that night Draco Malfoy was standing in the middle of his room. He was trying desperately to muster up enough courage to make himself apperate to the other side but couldn't bring himself to do it. His father had taught him the skill during the past summer but he had ended up splinching himself once and had since lost his appetite for apperating. He was quite glad when he left for school that September and had an excuse not to practice for a whole ten months. This summer he had been putting off trying again, getting splinched was not an experience he cared to repeat. But now it was only a week and a few odd days until he went back to Hogwarts and he knew he needed to try again before he lost his chance less he wanted his father to be even more disappointed in him. Draco took a big breath and closed his eyes. 'Just go to the bed' he told himself, 'it's damn near impossible to splinch oneself when apperating within the same room.' Finally he gathered up all the courage he had and closed his eyes. He concentrated hard, picturing himself on the bed safe and in one piece. "Appero," he whispered and shut his eyes tight. When he dared to wink open one eye he was still standing directly in the center of the room where he had been. Draco let out a frustrated cry and burst a vase into a thousand pieces. No one ever said the Malfoy's were known for their good tempers. 

Ever since he had walked out of Ginny's room he had been in a sour mood. The house elves had even begun to avoid him. The girl was getting to him. She was going to his head, and not the one he wanted her too. Tonight though, he was just too upset to care, he desperately needed to get out some of this frustration and a visit to the girl would be perfect. He stormed out of his room and down a bit to hers. He usually entered her room sly, as a fox but today in all his frustration he opened the door sending it flying on it's hinges into the opposite wall. He found Ginny curled up in an armchair she had pulled up to the fire reading a book he had ordered Zally to bring her. She looked up upon his noisy arrival. His eyes met hers but he couldn't read what was in them. They were big and was that fear, relief, or possibly dread? Draco didn't know and didn't care. She put down her book and looked right at him. He walked over to her and pulled her roughly to her feet. 

"Draco," she said, "where have you been?" 

"I haven't felt like visiting you." 

"Oh," there was a pause. Draco liked it this way. He was a good foot taller than her and he loved holding her like this. She seemed so defenseless and he felt so powerful. No, he didn't harbor any feelings for the girl. He just wanted a pet, and Ginny was a good pet. "Well I was lonely without you," she said suddenly, and begun to run his fingers on his chest, undoing a button, "You won't stay away that long again will you?" she asked innocently and looked up at him with big brown doe eyes. Draco snatched her fingers roughly from his chest and as she let out a surprised gasp he covered her mouth with his. Ginny, he was surprised to find, responded with a great deal of urgency. Yes, Ginny would make a perfect pet. He couldn't wait to send her letters from Hogwarts and have her reply that she had missed him. Draco couldn't help but reflect that he had accomplished his goal as he ran a hand up the inside of Ginny's robes only to hear her respond, "Malfoy" in a breathy sort of way. Ginny wanted him and not Potter. Life was good. This assumption made that night's little session much more enjoyable for him, but a bit painful for Ginny. 

In truth, Malfoy was partly right. Ginny didn't really think about Harry all that much anymore and was even surprised by her lack of excitement in his visit that day. She couldn't help but reflect on all this as she waited for Malfoy to fall asleep. Soon his breathing became deep and when she put her ear delicately to his chest she could hear his heart beating in a persistent and oddly soothing rhythm. Again she went to fetch his wand. She found it tucked in the pocket of his robe. Malfoy really was stupid to just leave the wand there. She went to the door holding her breath. If the spell didn't work she didn't know what she would do, and she had just told Ron and Harry not to come back. Before, she was sure she could, but now, actually facing the challenge she was beginning to have her doubts. 

Taking a deep, and what was supposed to be calming breath she raised Draco's wand. "_Tepesco Procaptus_" she whispered the charm. Cautiously she reached out to touch the door, ready to pull back her hand in case it burned. To her delight the door was a perfectly normal temperature. Every fiber of her body wanted to jump and scream in celebration. The sheet also said that the door would be warm to the caster's touch, '_foveo," _she whispered the warming charm. Very rarely did Malfoy ever touch the door, just used his wand to open and shut it, but she put it on as a precaution. Any day now she would burst into the Burrow. An ear-to-ear smile on her face, Ginny went back to bed and lay down next to Malfoy. 

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait. I hope you like. I'm almost done with this but I've started getting involved in writing Perfectly Dark (Yes, that is a shameless plug to get you to read it) so I don't know how long until I get the rest up. I'll try to finish before I go on Vacation in two weeks. No Promises though.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Ginny lay awake next to Malfoy, to excited to sleep. It felt as if every cell in her body was throwing a small party to celebrate her almost freedom. Now the only problem was leaving. Obviously she couldn't just walk out into the Malfoy Manor in the middle of the day, which didn't necessarily present a problem at this very moment, but she didn't want to just leave with Malfoy liable to wake-up and find her missing either. This resulted in an odd paradox, after a week of wanting nothing more than Malfoy's hasty return; all she wanted now was for him to leave her alone. 

It took her until dawn was breaking on the horizon to drift off into an uneasy sleep. Lucky for her she wasn't a sleep talker, so she needn't worry about revealing anything to Malfoy while she was dreaming. After only two hours of sleep though, she felt a hand crawl across her stomach and drawl her close.  
"Uhhh," she groaned, and tried to push the hand away, "I'm tired," she mumbled 

"Wake-up Gin," a cold, yet familiar drawling voice said. 

'No, sleep," she said again and rolled over so the hand now rested on her waist. She was semi-conscious that she should give the owner of this (rather annoying) hand some attention, but her mind was still to clouded with sleep to properly care. The voice chuckled and said, "Have it your way than," and seconds later Ginny _was_ properly awake, due to a large bucket of ice water that now drenched her and the bed. 

"FRED, GEORGE! I'M TELLING MUM!!!" she automatically screamed upon being yanked from sleep. But after closer inspection, it wasn't Fred, George, or any Weasley for that matter, but a Malfoy who had conjured and dumped the bucket of ice water in question. 

"Nice to see you up Ginny," Malfoy said, his cruel ice dancing at his clever trick. 

"Draco!" she said, finally coming to her senses, "I'm freezing will you dry this bed up please, and my hair for that matter?" He pulled Ginny roughly out of the bed and her teeth began to chatter a little more violently. 

"_Siccus," _he said and the bed was miraculously dry. 

"My hair?" she asked meekly, holding out a section of her sopping wet red curls for Draco to see and involuntarily shivering a bit more. 

"Cold Ginny?" _Oh no, _she thought_ not again, why does he always have to say my name too?_ But like Ginny always did, she played along. 

"Freezing," she said making sure she shivered slightly. She saw his eyes rake once over her naked figure, taking in certain features that were more prominent in the cold. Then came the hands pushing her back onto the now the bed. Appropriately, she giggled and reached up to pull him closer. _Only one of two more times, _she thought and let him have his way. 

But it was much more than one or two, because Draco spent all the next week with Ginny. Ginny, who was hoping that with Draco's return her nerves would allow her illness to retreat, was quite disappointed to find that her nerves didn't like her that much, and insisted on causing her more nausea. Draco had taken every meal with Ginny that week, and spent every night in her room. They settled into a nice schedule. He'd be room for breakfast having spent the night, leave at nine a.m. and return four hours later at one p.m. for lunch. Then he'd leave to attend to "business," but as to what exactly he was up to Ginny was never told. At exactly four o'clock Zally would pop in with a snack, and at exactly nine p.m., not a minute sooner or later, Draco would appear carrying two dinner trays and the two would have a late dinner together. After that Ginny would giggle and blush, and Draco would feel powerful. Then the whole process would be repeated once again the next day. By the fifth day, Ginny was about ready to burst. The longer she was here the more likely Draco was to check the charm on the door. Every time he passed through it a small little flitter of nervousness would rise in her stomach. 

Draco meanwhile, was enjoying his last few weeks of summer more than he previously thought he would. His father was finally allowing him to accompany him on Death Eater business, and although they weren't doing anything much, seeing as how it was in the daytime, he was on a power high unlike any other. When he wasn't helping his father, he was with Ginny. Draco was beginning to realize something about Ginny; he loved her. Not in the way a Husband loves a Wife, or a Father loves a Son, or even the way a Boy loves a Dog. Draco loved Ginny like a Child loves a Broomstick, as a possession. He loved coming to Ginny and seeing her looking at him with those big brown eyes. He loved when he would take her between the sheets and make her moan out loud. Even more he loved when he would get her to scream in pain. Deep down, he knew part of what she was doing was just an act but not only did he love that she felt she needed to pretend to him, but he was confident that she only covered up a few things but was genuinely glad to see him every night and actually sad to see him go in the morning. 

During the days his father showed him wonderful things. Sometimes he would display for him all of the dark artifacts he had previously been forbidden to see, and other times he got to go into the muggle world and reek a bit of havoc. That, by far, is what he loved doing most. Whether it was breaking down busses just for kicks, or a few harmless muggle killings. If there was one thing he learned that summer it was that he couldn't wait until he became a Death Eater. 

"Draco," his father said as they were returning to the manor on the fifth night of their excursions, "I have something special for us to do tomorrow, but we may be home late." 

"What will be doing?" he asked, but his father didn't answer him, knowing the pains of curiosity. Draco seeing no answer was going to be supplied, went into Ginny's room like he always did at night. 

"Draco!" she called when he entered the room. 

"Same time as always," he said sitting down at Ginny's little table. 

"I get so lonely when you're gone during the day," she said sitting down across from him and allowing Zally to drape her napkin across her lap, "What will I do once you leave for school?" Although, Ginny had no intention of being here come September first, she felt it would be appropriate to say something on the subject to keep up the guise of her complete and utter devotion to Draco. 

"Well, I will see you when I'm home for Winter Holidays and I can owl you every so often during term," he said, that arrogant smirk back on his face. 

"But I'll be so lonely without you! I practically go nutters when you don't return for a week. What will I do for a whole four months?" The smile got bigger. Ginny was starting to wonder about Draco's intelligence level if he honestly believed that a girl he kidnapped would spend her days pining away for him. But Draco was raised in a different world. Since birth he had been cooed at by nannies, coddled by his mother and wooed by pure-bloods and muggle born witches alike. There could be no doubt that Draco was the most mislead child in the Wizarding World and most likely, the whole of Britain. Ginny missing him while he was gone seemed most natural to a boy who was bread to live so far from reality. 

"I'm sure you'll get by without me Ginny. Perhaps I'll give you a port key to a sitting room with pleasure reading books. The library has far to many Dark Arts books for me to let you go there." Having Dark Arts books wasn't a crime. The ministry gave permits to those families they "deemed worthy" who they believed could use the books for research to battle the Dark Arts. Lately Ginny had been toying with the idea of finding something that _would _incriminate the Malfoys in case Lucius managed to worm his way out of the kidnapping and rape charges that she was planning on bringing against him. 

"Draco, what kind of business do you do day?" she asked suddenly. 

"Things with my father," he said and made to give her a quelling look only to find her looking down, moving her food around her plate with her fork. 

"What sort of things?" she asked, hoping her inquiry was coming of as pure admiration and not as the Spanish Inquisition that it was. 

"Things that don't concern you in any way shape or form," he replied, his tone a clear indication that the subject was now dropped. 

"I'm full," she announced and pushed her plate away seeing that there was no real point in perusing the subject any further now. 

"But you've hardly touched you're food." She just shrugged. "Well I'm not to hungry either," he pushed his plate away and Zally popped away with them. 

"Perhaps you feel like a game of chess?" he asked. 

"I'd love to play chess," she said. The only thing Ginny truly enjoyed here was playing chess with Draco. He was in fact quite good and she got to stop pretending to be an airhead for once and really concentrate without the fear of Draco's ever-present power trip dying off. She had only beaten him once. Draco's response to her call of, "check" then "checkmate," had been to not acknowledge her checkmate but just pick her up and carry her to the bed. After that Ginny had surmised that Draco had serious issues when it came to intimacy and she also began to feel very sorry for his future wife. There was no telling what he was capable of if his authority was challenged and to top it off, the boy never got tired! 

Draco led her to the chess table and she sat down. Calling Zally, he ordered a glass of wine and she requested a glass of butterbeer. Ginny studied him while they continued to play. The way the candlelight created a halo around his impeccably blonde hair, and his delicate, clearly aristocratic, hands hovered above the chess pieces before he would swiftly make his move, or the simple way he would sip his wine than sit back and watch her with fascination as she contemplated her next move. Whatever it was, there was something different about Draco lately. Ever sense they had started on this little routine of theirs Draco had changed. Ginny could tell that he somehow found himself more sophisticated or possibly just older now. Where he used to drink butterbeer at night he now had wine or a variety of other alcohols. Although Ginny wanted to believe she had something to do with this transformation, she was hardly going to kid herself. Of course now that she knew Draco was doing things with his father while he was gone, she highly suspected that had something to do with that his change. 

"Checkmate," Draco suddenly said snapping her from her thoughts, Ginny looked down at the board. How had that happened? She could have sworn her king was highly protected. Then she spotted it. One pawn was out of place; one single detail had lost her the game. 

"I swear Draco," she said looking up at him, "I'll never beat you again in this game." He smiled that arrogant smile that Ginny couldn't help but want to slap him for. 

"Let's go to bed," he said and pulled her up to her feet. Taking her hand, he led her to the large bed then scooped her up and laid her down upon it. Another nightly routine was set into play. 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Draco awoke before Ginny, he usually did. For some odd reason he loved watching her sleep. She looked so small, fragile, and innocent, while her naked body was intertwined in the sheets. He had made her body naked and in the process, made this small innocent thing his own. He remembered his second day after receiving her. She had been crash and completely unmanageable, but he had tamed her to be this charming little pet. Being with Ginny made him feel so powerful and needed. He was going to miss her when he went to school. 

"Ginny," he said, "Ginny wake-up." He didn't feel like waiting for the girl to wake up on her own. She stirred and grumbled something then turned around to see him. 

"Hey," she smiled lazily. 

"Morning Ginny," he said and pulled her up so her head rested on his chest. He hugged his arms around her. 

"Mmm, morning," she yawned. 

"Tired?" he chuckled. She was so cute when she yawned like that. 

"Mmm," she replied, nestling her head into the pillow that was his chest. 

"Well it was a late night." 

"Yeah," she sighed obviously intending to go back to sleep in his arms. Draco didn't like this. He wanted her up, couldn't she see that? Why wasn't she obeying him? 

Draco decided to ask her a question he knew would send her reeling to get her up. "Ginny, will you miss me while I'm at school?" 'Oh yes!' he imagined her saying, sitting bolt upright, 'Are you sure you have to go?' 

Yet to his utter surprise and equal disgust she just sighed again and mumbled 'terribly,' while her head lay on his chest. Draco liked this even less and without thinking about it, he dug his nails into his present. Were her loyalties wavering? 

Ginny's eyes flew open in response to the pain. _Ut-oh. _ What had she been thinking? What's more, what would she do now? Luckily for her Draco decided to test her loyalties a little more. 

"Ginny, do you miss your house?" he asked, remembering the last time he had broached the subject and Ginny had burst into tears. 

"No," was her same sighing reply, "I like it much better here. I get to see you everyday and it's so much quieter, but I do get lonely." Draco decided that was much more suitable answer, and unknowingly relaxed his fingers. 

"Why else do you like it here?" Ginny whose sudden worry had chased all thoughts of sleep from her mind was now just annoyed; she did NOT feel like describing why she 'liked' it here. 

"I like having Zally," she said the first thing that came to her mind, a relative truth, "and I love playing chess with you. You should play Ron at school, he's really good too." 

"What else?" he coached. 

'_Is he fishing for something specific?'_ she wondered. 

"I love having new robes," she started to name random things, "and you have delightful food. Oh, and the bath tub is about twice the size of anything they have at the Burrow!" Draco was satisfied; yes the girl was just tired. He bent down and kissed her lips passionately and found Ginny responding without trepidation. Her hands went up to grasp around his neck and she pulled her naked body closer to his, "accidentally" brushing his most sensitive spot with her thigh. That was all Draco needed. 

"Mmmm," he said rolling over so he could pin her down, "that's my girl." Ginny breathed silent thanks that Draco had taken her bait. She wanted to be sure that his mind strayed from her earlier comment, and judging from experience, the best way to do this was sex. 

"The light," she mumbled between kisses. Draco grasped around the bed for his wand, found it and murmured a darkening spell. 

*** 

Like always, Zally brought them breakfast at around 8:30. Draco sat watching Ginny eat. 

"I'm glad you like our food." he said as she started on her fourth piece of toast smothered in raspberry jam. 

"It's so delicious!" she said with a lighthearted giggle. 

"I'm glad you like it here Ginny. The Malfoy Manor is a much better place for you than the Furrow." 

"Burrow," Ginny automatically corrected, "It's not going to be half as nice without you," she said. 

"Well I still have two nights and two days until the start of term." 

"Only three?" she said. This worried her; she wanted to be out before school started. 

"Like I said, I'll owl you Ginny." 

"But it's just not the same as you being here." she said quietly staring at her plate. 

"I know," he said and Ginny couldn't help but think, _'Cocky git,'_

"Well," he said suddenly, "I'm off, I must talk to my father about something. I'll see you at one." he got up and walked out the door. 

Ginny got up and dressed as soon as the door shut. She pulled on her robes and stared out the window upon the vast Malfoy grounds. She didn't want to admit to even to herself, how much Malfoy's last comment had bothered her. Yet, as she glared down to see how perfectly the estate was manicured, and though longingly of the Burrow with it's unshapely gardens, there was no denying it. _'Damn him!'_ she thought, _'he had to go and make me think of home.'_ And now Ginny was incredibly homesick. The feeling welt up inside her causing unwanted tears to spill into her eyes and roll down her cheek. She wiped them furiously away. She was stronger than that. But, she missed the gardens of the Burrow with its scattered chickens and gnomes. More tears came to her eyes. She wanted no, _needed_ her mother. Her body ached to be held and comforted, not by Malfoy's cold, demanding lustful hands, but by her mothers plump freckled arms, her cooing voice holding her close and saying, "There there Ginny. It'll be okay." She stumbled back onto the bed and the sobs started, great heaving sobs. She hadn't actually cried since her second day here. Now the stress from every fake smile, every time she let Malfoy touch her, and every giggly comment came crashing down. She couldn't do this anymore. She had to get home. _'Three days at the most!'_ she told herself, but that couldn't stop the raging tears. No, she had to get out as soon as possible. She couldn't fake it anymore. 

~ 

Draco left Ginny's room to shower and change into new robes. He really wanted to find his father and inquire him about what he would be doing today. His mind had been spinning all night thinking of possibilities. He smiled when entering his room he found a steaming goblet of alertness potion. His father had suggested the potion a few days ago when Draco had been on the brink of exhaustion between doing things with him and spending his nights with Ginny. 

After showering and changing he left his room in search of his father. When he reached Lucius study and found it was empty, he decided to try and find him in the Library. For the Library was Lucius pride and joy of the Manor. It had a high vaulted ceiling, which was enchanted like Hogwart's great hall's ceiling. The only difference was that the library's ceiling always looked like the night sky. Lucius always kept the thick velvet midnight blue drapes drawn across the widows that reached from floor to ceiling. The result was that even now in the morning hours, the room was dark and formidable. But Draco didn't love the library for it's enchanted ceiling or it's dark disposition, Draco loved the moving bookcases. Ten bookcases were positioned perpendicularly against one wall and as he walked by they silently parted for him, closing off the spaces between unused bookcases thus allowing browsers more room. He finally found his father between the second and third bookcase where the family kept their spell books. 

"Draco!" he called when he saw him. 

"Hello Father," Draco nodded. 

"I was just looking for a book with a specific spell I want you to learn for today's events." Draco relaxed; relieved he didn't have to broach the subject first. 

"Father, about today's events, well..." he hesitated 

"Yes?" Lucius prompted 

"Well, what exactly _are_ they?" Mr. Malfoy looked at his son and turned suddenly serious. 

"Come with me Draco," he said and put a hand on his shoulder, leading him out of the library and into the drawing room. Draco assumed they were going into their hidden chamber where Mr. Malfoy kept the worst Dark Artifacts, but he was surprised to see that Lucius stopped in front of a desk with a large box atop it. 

"What's in there?" he asked. 

Lucius stopped and opened the box and held it out so Draco could view its contents. Draco's eyes went wide. There in the box was a long, black velvet robe. 

"The Death Eater's robe." he said quietly, awed. 

"Yes, you may be needing it for today." 

"What's going on today?" he asked again, his delicate hands pulling the robe out of the box. 

"Today my son, you see the real attack. No more dwindling with muggles Draco," 

"You mean we attack a Wizarding family?" 

Lucius nodded. 

"Who?" 

"The Diggorys." 

~ 

The Burrow was in a sorry state. Everyone had hoped Harry and Ron would return with Ginny in hand, or at least a promise that she'd come soon. A week after their return the complaints hadn't quelled, in fact they seemed to have reached an all time high. 

"I don't see why you just can't tell the Ministry!" Molly screeched at Arthur for not the first time that week. 

"Molly I'm telling you, word would reach Lucius first, he's still heading the official "search". The instant we do Ginny will be moved." he calmly replied 

"Well why can't we go ourselves and get her?" she asked. 

"Because Malfoy's got a protective charm on the door and we can't Apparate into the room," Ron said indecently. 

"Yeah," Harry said jumping to Ron's defense. 

"Well I just hope my baby is home soon." Mrs. Weasley said. 

"She'll probably break out once Draco leaves for school," Harry offered. 

~ 

"What spell did you want me to learn?" Draco asked suddenly, tearing his eyes from his new robes. 

"_Taleafirmus Flamma,"_ Lucius replied. 

"What does it do?" 

"It creates a cage of fire to contain someone in. Most people won't last too long in it. They'll either die of the heat or their clothing will eventually catch fire." 

"Cool," Draco said. He cringed; he never usually let slang slip in conversations with his father. 

"Yes, well as 'cool' as this spell might be," Lucius chuckled, "It is rather difficult so we are going to spend all day working on it." 

Draco nodded. 

"Right, now we need something to cage." he said, "Twany!" he bellowed and a tiny little house elf appeared bowing low in the presence of both her masters. 

"Yes? What can Twany do for Master Malfoy and Young Master Malfoy sirs?" 

"Just stay there." Lucius commanded harshly. Twany nodded, her big ears flapping. 

"Now Draco as I said the spell is very difficult." he paused to look at the book he had brought from the library, "but the key to it is the desire to trap the victim. Luckily once the victim is trapped the spell doesn't need to be held like a Patronus. It is solid and will only be removed once you say the counter charm. Which is," he paused to scan the book again, "_Effero_. Are you following me so far?" 

"Yes," he said with slight hesitation. 

"What don't you understand?" Lucius sighed. 

"You just said the spell would be difficult and the most difficult ones are the ones that have to be held. This spell sounds rather easy really. Flames are very easy to conjure so I don't see how assembling them cage structure would be so difficult." 

Despite his earlier disappointment Lucius smiled at his son's cleverness. 

"Ah my son, that's very smart of you but there's more to in than fire. A person can walk through fire. They may come out extremely burned but of course it is possible. The person in the cage is surrounded by _solid_ fire that won't let them through." 

In his strive to succeed; Draco interrupted his father once again. 

"Solid fire father? But I don't understand. Is there some sort of structure that is on fire that will not burn and won't let the victim out?" 

"No," he said and looked to Draco to be considering something, "Okay," he finally said after a moment, "When you light the torches in your room do you know what happens? I mean on the molecular scale?" 

"Oxygen is burning," 

"Precisely." 

"So all the wizard really needs to do is start the reaction. Do you understand?" 

"Yes father." 

"This fire is different it's not like common fire. It's magic fire that must be conjured." 

"But conjuring things is easy too!" he protested. 

"Not things like this. You must put out magic and than burn, so to speak, that magic," he explained, "Now do you understand the spell's level of difficulty?" 

"Yes," Draco said. 

"Good. We'll start with something small." Lucius nodded, " Why don't you try and conjure a small amount of this fire Draco. Can you think of what the incantation for that would be?" 

Draco thought back to his Latin training. "Would it be just, _Firmus Flamma_?" 

"Very good Draco. I'm proud of you. Now try the spell." 

"_Firmus Flamma!"_ Draco called and a small marble sized bit of fire shot out of Draco's wand. 

"Perfect. Now watch. Twany, hold Master Malfoy's fire in your hand." 

If Twany looked daunted by her task, neither Mr. Malfoy nor Draco noticed. The elf jumped up and retrieved the burning ball, holding it between her fingers, letting out occasional yelps of pain. 

"Let go Twany." Mr. Malfoy commanded and the elf did. 

"That was very good for your first try son, now let's try something else..." 

~ 

Ginny looked at the clock hardly daring to believe it. It was past 1:30 and Draco wasn't here, and quite possibly wasn't coming. Since the one o'clock lunchtime had been decided, Draco had yet to be late. Ginny was daring to believe that he wasn't going too come today. The thought seemed to good to be true. She had spent the morning sobbing. She tried taking a shower to scrub his scent off, but she sobbed through that too. Only an hour ago and after immense self-discipline had she been able to pull herself together and dry her tears. Obviously she couldn't let Draco see her like that. In his mind she had no reason to cry, thus she shouldn't be crying. Ginny settled back onto the bed to read a new book Zally had brought her. She supposed Draco would show up soon. 

~ 

Draco was concentrating so hard on the spell he didn't even realized that one o'clock had come and gone. 

"Very, very good Draco!" Mr. Malfoy exclaimed as Draco managed to encage the house elf once again. 

"Thank you father." 

"Why don't we break for lunch?" 

"Oh, is it one o'clock already?" 

"It's past two." Mr. Malfoy said with a laugh and lead Draco into their dining room. 

Draco and Mr. Malfoy spent the rest of the day learning spells and incantations that Mr. Malfoy thought Draco would need that night. After they were done learning spells and were sitting around the table eating dinner Mr. Malfoy told Draco the exact plan of how things were going to go. 

"Why the Diggory's?" Draco asked curiously. 

"Two reasons actually," Mr. Malfoy said leaning back in his chair, "the first is where they are physically located. Do you know where they live?" 

"Ummm, no," he admitted. 

"Well they live rather close to the Weasleys. The Dark Lord feels that the Weasleys have lived in safety for far too long. Of course their youngest daughter _is_ missing," he said with a slight smirk at Draco, "but for a family who are such a starch Harry Potter/Albus Dumbledore supporters they have lived at ease longer than Our Lord is pleased with. He feels it is time we threatened the security they have began to feel again." 

"I like it. It's about time someone showed that long-nosed freckled-faced freak that he's not safe just because he's best friends with Harry Potter. What's the second reason Father?" 

"Our Lord also wishes to send a message to the entire Wizarding World. He finishes what he started. This is meant to be a message concerning Potter. In Potter's case, he killed the parents but never got to the son. In the Diggorys' case, he killed the son but never got to the parents. We, well you," he said smiling at Draco, "will finish the parents tonight." 

"And _He_ will finish the son of the Potters soon?" 

"He will Draco, he will." 

"Umm father one more thing." 

"Yes?" 

"How do you suppose we'll get there?" 

"Apparate of course," Lucius said. 

"Oh," he said looking down then, "You don't suppose we might floo over do you?" 

"Floo? Draco!" he said, "Don't tell me you're still not Apparating because of that one time last year when you splinched yourself!" 

"Ummm," Draco said, refusing to meet his father's disappointed glare. Draco always hated letting his father down. If one didn't count how strict he was involving Draco's grades, Mr. Malfoy wasn't a very easy man to disappoint, so when he did, Draco felt like scum. 

"Draco," Mr. Malfoy commanded, "answer me." 

"Father I, I just haven't really had the, uh, the time." 

"Draco, now I know that's a lie. You've had the whole summer. I know you don't have the chance to practice much at school, but do you expect me to believe that you haven't had five minutes this whole summer? All this time when you suggested we take the car into muggle London so the Ministry wouldn't be able to trace our Apparation right away and stop us, I thought you were so smart. Now I find out that you were just avoiding Apparating. You know Our Lord was going to come with us tonight but I convinced him that you would be nervous in his presence and I wanted to build your confidence. I assured him you were completely capable of doing everything a Death Eater should do. Should I tell him I was wrong? That you've been lying to me!" he slammed his hand down on the table, "What do you think Our Lord would do to me then Draco? He wouldn't trust me to be his right hand man if I couldn't tell that my own _son_ has been lying to me all summer!" Mr. Malfoy yelled. Draco didn't look up. He knew he deserved this. 

"Fath-" But Mr. Malfoy wasn't finished. 

"Well maybe you can just stay home tonight and I'll do it myself. We can't arrive by floo! That's a lovely idea Draco! Let's just tumble into their sitting room one by one, give them lots of time to kill one of us and wait for the other." 

"Father I-" 

"No! Do not try and make excuses I'm leaving! You can stay here!" he said pushing his chair back and storming out of the dinning room still ranting, "I taught you that skill and you should have used it. I risked a lot! A few harmless spells are one thing, but if The Ministry had found out that I allowed you to learn to Apparate they would not be happy. I can't believe..." but Mr. Malfoy's voice had faded from earshot. Draco was still staring at his plate as if he'd never seen anything quite like it. His normally pale cheeks were burning with a mixture of rage and shame. His father was being grossly unfair. It was one simple skill! It didn't make him unworthy of being a Death Eater. He had dreamed his whole life of becoming a Death Eater, and now with Voldermort in power once again his dream was closer than ever. He would not let his father tell the Dark Lord he wasn't worthy because of one stupid lie. He would show him. He was worthy! 

"_Appareo_!" he shouted and suddenly he was in his father's study. 

"I'm ready!" he said, a little breathless from the effort of Apparating for the first time in a year. "I am Father! I can Apparate!" 

"So you can, and so you are. Go change and meet me back here. We'll leave as soon as you're ready." Mr. Malfoy said, easily forgetting his earlier rage in light of Draco's determination. 

Draco ran to his room and donned his black velvet Death Eater's robes. He would prove himself today. 

"Let's go Son," Mr. Malfoy said as soon as Draco came into his study. With a pop they were gone as the clock struck nine. 

~ 

Mr. and Mrs. Diggory were listening to the news on the wireless when two loud pops drew their attention away. Mrs. Diggory let out a surprised scream when she saw the two black clad figures in her kitchen while Mr. Diggory grabbed for his wand. 

"_Taleafirmus Flamma," _Draco called pointing his wand at Mrs. Diggory. Her normally calm demeanor disappeared and she let out another earth-shattering scream as she was incased in flame. Draco had never felt such power. 

"Don't hurt her!" Amos called throwing himself in front of Draco's wand. Draco laughed so mirthlessly even he was surprised by it. 

"Why shouldn't I hurt her Amos?" 

"She's never done anything! _We've_ never done anything," he pleaded desperately. Draco pretended to consider this, "Please," Amos continued, "let her out of that-that cage!" 

"Hmmm, and what will you do if I do?" 

"Anything, I'll do anything you ask, I'll become a Death Eater, or be a spy. I'll do anything just let her go!" he pleaded desperately. It was more than Amos could bear watching his wife screaming, her face etched in fear. With Cedric gone he couldn't let Death Eaters take his wife too. 

Draco really did have to hesitate this time and glance at his father; it wasn't for him to decide if Mr. Diggory could bargain at such high stakes. Mr. Malfoy lightly shook his head. 

"No!" Mr. Diggory yelled, seeing Lucius' reply. 

"Say goodbye to your wife Amos Diggory." 

"Helen!" he called turning to the terrified women encaged in fire, "I love you!" he said. 

"Aw, how touching." Draco said in a mocking tone. 

But Mr. Diggory didn't reply. He was sobbing, "Just like Cedric, tell him I love him too!" 

"You'll get the chance to tell him yourself rather soon Amos," Draco drawled. You'll see your wife soon too." Diggory's eyes got big when the meaning of his words registered. 

_"_"_Effero," _Draco bellowed pointing his wand at Mrs. Diggory's prison, Amos hardly had time to be relieved that his wife was now free before Draco had called out another, much more frightening curse, "_Avada Kedavra," _Mrs. Diggory gave out a scream as death rushed past her and engulfed her. Draco had never felt anything so wonderful before. As the magic rushed through his blood stream, into his fingers and out of his wand he was feeling a thousand highs. Such power with two small words. 

"NOOO!" Mr. Diggory called seeing his wife drop beside him. 

"Yes," Draco said snapping back to reality just to taunt Amos once more, "Not to worry though, I imagine you'll see her soon." He turned his wand onto the last remaining Diggory. "Now Amos, stay kneeling just like that and you'll die just like your wife and only child." Draco said, surprising even himself with how natural this came to him. 

"I will not be told what to do by a child Draco Malfoy. I know that it is you behind that mask. Your horrible cold eyes, your whole family is a bad lot." 

"Two things I would like you to know before you die Amos," Draco drawled. 

"You will n-" Mr. Diggory started. 

"Yes," he said speaking over him taking aim with his wand. Ropes sprang out and muffled his mouth "I will. Now two things Amos, the first is that my family is ingenious and worth ten of yours. That is why my father and I are going to leave this house in a few minutes but I'm afraid you never will." Mr. Diggory started to talk but the ropes muffled anything he was saying, "And the second, is that I am not a child. Would a child be able to do this?" Once again he raised his wand and called out the most potent of the Unforgiveables. "_Avada Kedavra," _Mr. Diggory fell to the ground as Draco felt another rush of power burst through him like a thousand orgasms hitting him all at once. 

"MORSMORDRE!" Lucius called shooting the Dark Mark into the sky. Then, just as planned the two of them Apparated out into Diagon Alley. 

~ 

Ginny looked at the clock once more. 9:05 and again Draco wasn't here. She dared to hope he wasn't coming. _Perhaps something happened to him when he was with his father, _she thought, _but that still doesn't explain why he didn't come for lunch. Maybe he's just bored of me."_ Ginny thought of reason after reason why Draco was late but one thought haunted her mind. _I can leave if he doesn't come back soon!! _

~ 

Draco and Lucius Malfoy Apparated into a small alleyway in Diagon Alley. The ministry would be able to pick up their Apparation to within about a half mile and trace it back to the Diggorys' so there was no way they could Disapparated onto the Malfoy estate. There were so many people coming and going in and out of Diagon Alley that there was no possible way to trace them from here. 

"Wait a minute," Lucius instructed his son. 

"Why?" Draco asked. 

"Because if they trace the Apparation to around Diagon Alley and we are seen two seconds after, don't you think it will look the least bit suspicious?" 

"Oh," was all Draco could muster. He was still woozy from such and immense power high and he wondered with a chuckle, if he could get a power hangover. He found it horribly unfair that his father had let him experience that sort of high only before shipping him off to boarding school with that old loony for a headmaster. The pair waited ten minutes in the alleyway. Draco all the while mussing over the great serge he felt when killing the Diggorys. It was completely different from killing muggles. Muggles were below him anyways, they deserved their fate, and they never begged. But the Diggory's were different. Although he wasn't consciously aware of it, something inside had clicked and instinctively he knew he was not only better than muggles and mud-bloods but also better than any other wizard who was on the loosing side. He _must _become a Death Eater. He _needed_ that serge of power filling his entire being as often as possible, and if he couldn't become a Death Eater he might as well die. The power high was even better than when he took Ginny that first night and she had screamed and cried and begged him to stop, but was still to scared too move from him. Speaking of Ginny, he couldn't wait to see her. 

"Father, when will we go home?" 

"9:30" 

~ 

Ginny glanced at her clock for the third time in the last five minutes. She couldn't wait any longer, _9;30_ she told herself, _if he's not here by that time, then he's probably not coming. Besides the longer I wait the more likely it is that he'll come home and I'll get caught_. Deep down she knew she was cutting in close. Mrs. Malfoy or the servants could see her if she left that early, but she couldn't stand the thought of having Malfoy's hands on her again. She didn't want to give him enough time to come home. So instead of being safe and waiting, she justified it by saying that he surely wasn't coming if he wasn't here by 9:30. 

~ 

"Come Draco," Mr. Malfoy said, "We have a safe room where we can talk about your first real attack." Mr. Malfoy put a hand on Draco's shoulder to guide him while they Disapparated and the two suddenly appeared about a mile away in a dingy room. The dirt floor and walls gave away that it was underground and the musky scent revealed that they were most likely under the river. 

"Father, that was the most wonderful feeling in the world," Draco said awed, "I can't even put it into words. I must become a Death Eater Father, I must!" 

Mr. Malfoy smiled, full of parental pride. "Draco that was very good. It came natural to you. The dark lord will be immeasurably pleased with your first performance." 

"Really Father? Do you think he'll allow me to be initiated this December when I'm home for the Holidays?" 

"I think he would agree to that." Mr. Malfoy said and checked his pocket watch, "9:25," he said, "We can go, they won't be able to trace us from here." The pair rose to leave the table. 

~ 

_9:25,_ Ginny thought back at the manor, _only five more minutes and I'm free. _

~ 

Just as Draco was raising his wand to Disapparate someone else Apparated into the room. 

"James Avery!" Mr. Malfoy said suddenly. Draco was tempted to let out a groan. He did not feel like listening to them talk. He wanted to see Ginny. 

~ 

_9:26 almost there. I'm four of five minutes away from seeing Mum!_ Ginny could hardly wait. 

~ 

"9:26" Draco mumbled checking his watch. He supposed he could always leave without his father. So he decided that if Lucius didn't want to leave by 9:30 he would go by himself. 

~ 

Anxiously, Ginny watched the second hand crawl around the clock face. Every five seconds seemed like five minutes. Finally the clock read 9:29. 

~ 

"Well!" Mr. Avery said just as Draco watched the watch click to 9:30, "I must be going, I have some business to attend to." 

"Good Night James." Lucius said. 

"Good Night Mr. Avery." Draco said as he watched the man disappear from sight. 

"Can we go now father? I want to get home." 

"Why is that?" 

"I want to visit Ginny." The two men raised their wands and both said "_Appareo," _at the same time. 

~ 

9:30! Ginny jumped out of the bed and opened the door. 

**A/N: **Sorry I haven't updated for so long!! I was on vacation for two weeks and then school started four days after I returned. Chapter sixteen should be out in about a week or so. 


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Ginny's heart soared as she walked away from the pink prison that had held her for the past month. It was the first time she had stepped out of it since Malfoy had brought her there and it all seemed too good to be true. She vowed the instant the door shut quietly behind her that she would never go back into that horrid room. In a few seconds she was at Lucius' study door. Immediately she recognized the room as the first one she had been kept in when Mr. Malfoy had kidnapped her. The irony of the study also being the means of her escape didn't surpass Ginny, but she didn't feel she had the time to marvel at it. Slowly she crept towards the fireplace, careful not to make a sound that any of the house elves or worse, Narcissa Malfoy could hear. Ginny stood in the glow of the flickering fire and reached for the nearest container. Taking off the lid, she looked down expecting to see sparkling floo powder, except; there wasn't any floo powder in that jar, or was there in any other of the various jars and containers she could find within the study. In the time it took her to check over every inch of the study twice, she had grown extremely frantic. What was she supposed to do now? She could go back into the safety of her room to plan something else and Draco would never even know that she had left. However, the thought of going back into that awful room and having to act so stupid again was almost enough to make her physically sick. No, she vowed not to go back and she wouldn't! But what was she going to do? Oh, how she wished she had thought of asking Harry to bring her some floo excess powder. She had just assumed the Malfoys would keep it near the fireplace like any other normal Wizarding family would. This was one detail she had forgotten to check. One detail and her whole plan was falling through her fingertips like a handful of sand at the beach. Standing there in the middle of the study left her feeling very exposed. She desperately wished she had Harry's Invisibility cloak at the moment, after all what would Mrs. Malfoy do if she saw her son's present standing there right by her fastest route out of the house. She hated to think what Draco would do if he heard she tried to escape. Involuntarily, her body shuddered as she thought of the pain she would have to endure before Draco would feel powerful again. She was just turning around so she could find some other means of escape when she heard something that made her stomach drop out. Two voices, and one of them was distinctly Draco's. 

"Visit the girl?" the other was saying, "Aren't you a bit tired?" 

"No that alertness potion you gave me still hasn't worn off." Despite her fear, two things now registered. The first and decidedly least important was where Draco was getting all his energy from, and the second, much more important idea was to run, get out, HIDE. She stopped and listened closely, the voices weren't approaching or fading so she assumed they were stationary, and by the muffled sound of them, probably behind closed doors. Praying that her predictions were right and they wouldn't be able to see her, she slightly stuck her head out of the door and looked up and down the hall, then ran as fast yet as quietly in the opposite direction of her room. When she heard a door start to creak open she dashed quickly into the closest room. It was dark and when she looked up the night sky was twinkling above her, but right now she didn't have the time to admire the wonders of the Malfoy Manor. Right now she needed a nice and dark corner to crawl into and think of a new plan. 

~ 

Draco left his father still in his new black robes and approached Ginny's door. He couldn't wait to see his blushing pet. 'Where have you been?' she would say, 'I've been so worried!' And he would smile at her, push her back onto the bed and take her. '_Perhaps,_' he thought, _'tonight I could try something a bit more on the 'creative' side.'_ The only thing that had kept him at bay so far was the fact that he didn't think Ginny could handle it. He didn't want his pet to go all quiet and struggling on him again. Tonight though, with the memory of Amos Diggory's begging words as the power rushed through his arm still fresh in his mind, he actually felt like overpowering a struggling Ginny. Besides, he was leaving for school in two days time, so Ginny's mind and body would have months to recover from it. 

"Ginny!" he called pleasantly upon opening the door. No answer. "Ginny?" he called curiously again _'She must be asleep,_' he thought, but one glance at the bed revealed that a sleeping Ginny could not be between the perfectly made sheets. "Ginny!" he called more harshly than anything, this time checking the bathroom, only to find it to was also empty. 

~ 

In the library Ginny could hear Draco calling her name and knew it was only a mater of time before he alerted Mr. Malfoy. That terrified her beyond all-else. Draco she knew how to handle. It may take her a few nights of pain and a few frantic crying fits of apologies, but she firmly believed that if she were caught, by the time he went back to school she could win back her lost freedom. She doubted Mr. Malfoy though, would fall for such games. He was no longer disillusioned by a silly spoiled childhood where everyone appeared to love him. He knew the real world and could no doubt tell when a person was faking submission. She shudder, Mr. Malfoy _was a Death Eater_, her mind screamed, and certainly his kind would hurt her, abuse her, and would not care if she cried. She was scared, very scared actually. 

~ 

Realization slowly dawned on Draco as he saw Ginny's empty room. She was gone, but how could that be possible? He didn't let her out of the room and the neither the servants nor elves would. That left out only one possibility. She had run away! 

"Impossible!" he cried out loud, his mind not wanting to believe it. He ran to the door and put his hand to it. It was still warm, unless of course... 

_"Tepesco," _he yelled the cooling charm, and again reached his hand to the door. It was indeed cool. The _E__xuro_ _Captus_ charm he had placed on the door before bringing her down here was resistant to cooling charms. '_That conniving little Weasel had found a way to take the charm off and knew enough to put a warming charm on the door,' _his mind screamed. Rage built up inside him as wheels began to turn. Ginny had been fooling him, that was for sure, but for how long? Was it a day or two? One, two weeks? Maybe even three? _Everything_ had been an act. How many climaxes had she faked? How many chess games had she thrown? How many times had she said 'I've missed you!' and been planning on leaving? He felt his body began to shake. Nobody, _nobody_ did this to him. He would find the little red haired whore, and he would torture her, put a muting charm on that lying little mouth of hers and lock her in the dungeons after he'd had his fun 

"FATHER," he called fleeing the room, "FATHER! GINNY IS GONE. SHE RAN AWAY!!" he ran to Lucius study to find him already on his feet but still calm. 

"Go alert the house elves and servants. Tell your mother too. Have her reinforce the locking charms on the gates. We must find her Draco." he said calmly still, "Go. Now!" he commanded, suddenly harsh. Draco didn't need to be told twice. He set off to the kitchens and staff quarters at a run. Lucius left a second later. 

~ 

Ginny, who was now crouching in a corner of the library overheard the whole conversation and wisely decided she needed another hiding place, a dark corner couldn't hide her well enough. The giant bookcases across the room seemed a very promising hiding place. If she crouched just a few shelves from the ground her dark green robes would blend perfectly into the shadows. Fast and quiet as a cat she ran and found an appropriate shelf on the third bookcase, scrambling up the first few two foot shelves as quietly as she could. Only seconds after settling herself she heard Lucius steps pause in front of the library door. 

~ 

Draco was sprinting down the halls heading towards the ground floor where the kitchens were. His anger and hate building with each step he took. Just wait until he got his hands on that girl. Oh she would regret ever fooling him. He burst into the kitchens. 

"HEY!" he yelled and every eye, human or elf, looked his way, "My birthday present has escaped!" he yelled, "Keep your eyes open for it. Do NOT let a red headed girl get away if you see her. Trap her and then contact one of the family IMMEDIATELY. Anyone who willingly or unwillingly lets the girl go will be fired or clothed appropriately. Is that understood?" he bellowed. Every head nodded. Draco turned on his heels heading upstairs in search of his mother, black robes billowing out behind him. 

~ 

Ginny listened as Lucius footsteps entered the library. She almost screamed as the bookcase began to move, but saw an opportunity. Once the third shelf touched the fourth she shimmied through the opening between the shelves onto the far side of the fourth. '_Now I'm safe,' _she thought. Of course in the heat of the moment, it never occurred to her the shelves would move again and allow Lucius a glimpse of her new 'haven'. Thus, when the third shelf moved back to rest against the second revealing her once again she was unprepared to scramble onto the fifth and almost didn't make it. Once the fifth bookcase started she soon got the idea and grabbed hold of the fourth just before it went out of reach and crawled all the way through the dark tunnel of bookcases to the first shelf. 

~ 

Lucius watched, eyes hawk like, as the massive bookcase parted for him. He didn't think the girl was in here, but it was worth checking. 

"Ms. Weasley," he called menacingly, "Where are you?" 

~ 

Ginny Froze at his voice: icy, threatening, dangerous. 

"Come now," he said, "there's no sense in this game. We _will _find you Ms. Weasley, and if you come now we won't hurt you," he paused, "as much." 

A sardonic chuckle. 

Ginny quivered, he couldn't find her. He wouldn't! 

"Come along!" She heard the voice going further and further from her. 

~ 

Lucius reached the back of the library. He was right the girl wasn't in there. 

~ 

Ginny began breathing again once she heard the footsteps completely fade from earshot. It didn't occur to her that, now that Lucius had checked the library it was probably the safest room in the house. The only thought she had was "Get Out." It seemed her heartbeat was repeating it, "Get out. Get out." She waited for the bookcases to part then scrambled away. Every running step she took yelled, "Get out. Get out." She rasped for breath, "Get out. Get out," the breaths reminded her. "GET OUT!" She fled down a long staircase. She needed to get down; on the ground floors there would be doors, _exits._ She rounded a corner and saw something that made her breath stop. Draco Malfoy, running towards her. Both stopped dead, forty feet from one another. Their eyes met. Ginny's face was horror-stricken, she knew it, but Draco looked positively delighted and almost hungry. This was not the same Draco Malfoy she faced in bed this morning. His eyes were different and he _held_ himself differently. And then her mind registered what the robes he was wearing meant. 

~ 

Draco watched her. There was his Birthday Present, and she looked more terrified than he supposed she would when facing Voldermort himself. Good. He continued to stare menacingly at her and slowly raised his wand so he could bind her, but then in a flash of red hair she regained her senses and turning on her heels ran around a corner before he could fire a spell. 

~ 

Ginny ran sprinting in the other direction as fast as she could, not caring how much noise she made now. She had to get away from him, from _The Death Eater_. This was a new Draco, those cold eyes told it all. He wouldn't fall for her games. He would be cruel and unyielding. Now her footsteps, heart and breath sang, "Get Away, Hide. Get Away, Hide." She threw the door open to a random room, praying Draco would run right past her. 

~ 

Draco ran after Ginny but stopped when he rounded the corner and saw the empty hallway in front of him. Ginny was here in this hallway. He knew it. What he knew about this hallway that Ginny didn't, was that, although neither of them could see it, there was an invisible barrier at the end of this hallway that would prevent her from going into the last three rooms. His father kept all his Dark Artifacts there; there was no way she could get through without a special amulet. 

"Oh father," he yelled lazily "I believe I've found our little fugitive." He turned to face the first door, raised his wand and blew it to pieces with a thunderous BANG. He then stepped just a few passes inside, his boots crunching pieces of the shredded door. 

~ 

Lucius heard his son calling and sat back. He would let Draco deal with her; he knew Draco could handle one unarmed Weasley. 

~ 

"Ginny my pet. Are you here?" he called quietly. He waved his wand to ignite the torches, bathing the room in light. "_Ostendo," _he called and every closet, door, and possible hiding place flew open, revealing anything that could be hiding. Seeing this room was empty he moved calmly onto the next. There was no need to rush Ginny was in this hallway. It was only a matter of minutes before he got his hands on her; he smiled slightly, oh how his hands would hurt her. 

~ 

Ginny eased the door shut and turned to look at the room. In the center of the it was a big blue and green bed. She recognized it, but it took her a second to place it. Of course, her first night with Draco, this must be his room. She stood in the center trying to clear her mind of all the frantic worries and find somewhere to hide. Only when she heard a loud **_crash_** and footsteps, followed by Draco's voice calling, "Come out and play Ginny. You like games, I know you do" did she wake up from her stupor and scramble under the bed. She listened; heart pounding as Draco's steps came closer and closer down the hall. She could tell by the clatter that Draco was throwing open every cupboard open, she only prayed he wouldn't remember the dust ruffle. Ginny heard the sickening pattern in the room next door. _Pause, Bang, Footsteps, Calling, Clatter. _ All too soon she heard Draco's footsteps pause in front of her door. Despite herself, she jumped when the door was blasted apart. He took a few steps in, called out, "I'm only wondering where you are my little red-haired present, then muttered a charm and everything was thrown open. She let out a whimper, for he had remembered the dust ruffle. As Draco's eyes scanned the room, it looked for a moment as if she wouldn't be discovered. Ginny couldn't breathe, wouldn't breathe. Draco's gray eyes fell on her suddenly, a sardonic smile curled onto his face. 

"Hello Ginny," he said and started walking towards her. He bent down so he could see her, "Why Ginny, I'm so glad I've found you." 

She whimpered, never before had that cool collected drawl unnerved her so much. 

"Come out Ginny. Come on," he cooed as if coxing a kitten out of a tree. She knew she was trapped but her adrenaline wouldn't let her give up. She had to try. She scrambled backwards from under the bed and ran for the door. 

Draco gave a tremendous yell and ran after her. He caught her arm and threw her on the ground. Ginny yelped as she landed on her backside with a thud but immediately started to crawl backwards away from the advancing Draco. 

"You've been a very naughty girl Ginny," he said his eyes narrowing. "You will pay for this. I think we have a nice cold room in the dungeons just waiting to be occupied by a little whore like yourself. How does that sound my sweet?" 

Another whimper escaped her lips as she finally got to her feet. 

"Are you scared?" he drawled menacingly advancing on her. She nodded but scared didn't even begin to describe it. She was petrified. She could see herself locked in the dungeons without company or light, begging Mr. Malfoy for food. This was her last chance. She had to get out now. 

"You should be scared Ginny," he said. Her back was against the wall. One of Draco's hands was right by her head and the other was clutching his wand by his side. 

"No," she sobbed, "No Draco I'm sorry. My family, I just wanted to see my family," she sobbed wildly, her eyes searching for a means of escape. Even if she could get his wand she knew she would never be able to get out of the manor with Mr. Malfoy alerted. 

"Do you know what I'm going to do you?" he went on, smiling and ignoring her sobs. Draco was enjoying her tears, "I'm going to hurt you Ginny. You will experience pain and things your mind cannot comprehend." But Ginny had stopped listening. She had spotted her way out. There, leaning against the bed was a brand new Firebolt. With a Firebolt, she could make her escape, but before she was able to act Draco had placed one hand firmly on her breast, the other still clutching his wand. She let out a surprised yelp of pain as he squeezed, hard. Another call escaped her lips as she felt his mouth on the nape of her neck. He bit down with precision and Ginny could feel that he had drawn blood. It took her a second to find her bearings. She could do this but she only had one chance and it had to be done perfectly. Ginny let her hands flicker down his body, hoping that they seemed terrified enough so as not to reveal their real, seeking purpose. She had to get her hand right by his wand. 

~ 

Draco listened to Ginny's yelps of pain. It was music to his ears. If only she knew what was coming. The pain she was feeling now was tolerable, admittedly uncomfortable but she could handle it. During what he had in store for her, she would wish she were dead, beg for him to ease her pain and rue the day she _ever_ played a game with him. He smiled against her neck, which now had a row of bite marks, as he felt her little fingers flutter down his body. After tonight he would lock in the dungeons. A four-month stint in the rotting cellars of the manor ought to serve her right. He shoved her harder up against the wall. Oh how he loved the feeling of his muscular body squishing her soft one. 

~ 

She needed to act now; he was starting to get closer. It was now or never. She needed to distract him for a split second. 

"HARRY! YOU CAME!" she yelled out. She knew he would only faze him for the briefest instants but that was all she needed. As Draco's attention was diverted she frantically pushed him away just a few inches then brought her knee up to strike him where she knew it would hurt and simultaneously grabbed his wand. The whole process took but one second, so when Ginny aimed his wand at him and called out "_STUPEFY," _she doubted he ever knew what happened. 

With a wave of the wand she quietly shut and locked the door. Quickly, she checked Malfoy's pockets and drew his moneybag. A look inside revealed 20 galleons and 4 sickles. Retrieving his Firebolt she rushed for the window. Remembering the charms on both Mr. Malfoy's study window and her own, she concentrated. When Ginny had asked him to open it, Draco had only waved his wand at it and it had popped open with a click. Now, focusing on the latch she waved the wand. The window opened and Ginny actually gave a small jump of joy. She shakily mounted the broom, for she had never been one for flying, and soared out of the window. As the warm August air rushed through her hair and past her cheeks, she didn't think she'd felt such an overwhelming mix of joy, relief, and accomplishment in her entire life.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Harry Potter sighed looking up at the stars. Soon he would be going back to Hogwarts. He had always loved the start of the new school year before but now he had two reasons for wishing it to remain August 31 forever. First, he had spent most of his previous summers with the Dursleys. Going just about anywhere to get away from them was welcomed, even if it involved putting up with Snape. He was slightly more reluctant to leave the Burrow. The second reason was haunting him. Ginny was still missing. He wished he hadn't listened to her that day and left her alone, and by the look on Ron's face, he could tell he was wishing exactly the same thing. Ginny had left no room for inquiry on exactly what her purpose was in Draco's eyes. He was beginning to agree with Mrs. Weasley, they should go and get Ginny or do something. He wasn't quite sure what he should or indeed could do but the prospect of doing nothing was too much to bear. The worst thing was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were almost always at each other's throats. Last night Arthur hadn't come home until after midnight claiming he was working late. Mrs. Weasley wasn't about to accept that. 

"I can smell it in your breath Arthur!" she had yelled as Mr. Weasley nonchalantly disappeared up the stairway not even looking at his wife, "YOU'VE BEED DRINKING!" she yelled after him. And now Harry could hear them at it again. He turned to glance at Ron lying on the grass next to him along with all the other Weasleys. Even Percy had joined them. No one much wanted to be inside once Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were in the same room. They were all pretending not to notice the voices vibrating off the walls inside but Harry could tell each and every one of them was listening intently. 

"It's like you don't want her back Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley was screeching at howler-volume. 

"Of course I want her back Molly!" he responded just as upset. 

"Well you do a fine job of showing it. Practically forbidding your wife and children from talking about it!" 

"For Ginny's safety Molly! I've learned that Lucius Malfoy is not a person to be fooled. It's one thing when we're talking about getting a few dark artifacts, it's worth the risk that he'll find out and move them, but our daughter's safety is different!" 

"Yes, getting Ginny back might involve some risk right? It's okay when you have the ministry backing you but once you have to act alone it's a completely different story isn't it?" 

"How _dare_ you suggest I wouldn't do _anything_ to save Ginny, to save _any _ of our children? If I knew I could get her out I would even if it cost me my life, but the best option is to wait Molly. Harry and Ron are right, she'll probably escape once that fowl little runt goes back to school." 

"Oh it's always waiting with you isn't it? Why I remember the time..." Harry stopped listening. It was too much to bear. Sighing once more he resigned to look at the stars, but something else caught his eye. It was green and although it was a long way off, the twinkling didn't escape Harry's notice. 

"Ron," he said nudging the boy lounging next to him, "Ron is that what I think it is?" Ron looked to where Harry was pointing. 

"Oh-no, it can't be," he said, "Hermione, Percy, Fred, George, tell me you're not seeing what I'm seeing. 

"Oh Ron!" Hermione squealed, "It is!" 

"It must be the Diggorys" Percy said quietly, "I just don't see who else it could be." and for once Fred and George were silent as the six of them stared at the Dark Mark. 

~ 

Ginny flew away from the Malfoy Manor as fast as Malfoy's Firebolt would carry her. Despite her negative disposition to flying, she did a loop once she was crossed the grand walls of the manor. However the enthusiastic joy only lasted so long before Ginny was overcome with waves of panic. She had no idea where she was, and what's more no idea how to get home. She had never thought to inquire where exactly she was being held captive. Traveling by floo didn't require the journeyer to know the exact location of their departure gate, nor their arriving gate, only the names. She supposed she might be able to last a night or two y transfiguring small items into food but magicked food only lasted for a day before evaporating and thus any energy Ginny received would quickly disintegrate, the effects could be horrendous. If she ate too much and had spent the energy before the food evaporated things around her would start to die. As a result the Ministry forbade the complete conjuring of foods and as such Ginny had never been taught exactly how to transfigure any sort of food. Ginny sighed and thought her best bet was probably to find a well-hidden place to spend the night. Maybe if she was lucky she could find a family to take her in and possibly get a ride to Ottery St. Catchpool. 

~ 

Lucius stood and left his study grabbing an old necklace from a desk drawer. He needed to find his soul seer. He walked past Draco's room and hesitated. He knew he was impeding on his son's privacy but he was curious to hear what exactly he was doing to the girl. In his opinion, Draco was being rather soft with the lass but he wondered if her near escape would quell his softness. However, when he pressed his ear to his son's door he was utterly surprised to hear silence, a complete and utter silence. 

"_Mactosonitus_," he whispered the amplifying charm at the door, but again there was no sound. Cautiously he tried the knob, only to find the door locked. "_Alohomora" _he said and the door opened just a sliver. Lucius peered around the door expecting to see Ginny tied up and Draco having his way with her. However, what he saw was Draco sprawled on the floor and no Ginny Weasley in sight. 

"_Ennervate,"_ he said pointing his wand at his unconscious son. Draco stirred and then opened his eyes. 

"Father, what are you doing here?" he said a little dazed. 

"Where's the girl?" Lucius said harshly. 

"Girl?" 

"Ginny, your birthday present." 

"GINNY!" he said, the mention of her bringing his sense back full force. 

"Where-is-she?" Lucius said slowly. 

"She- I had her against the wall and she was crying but she yelled that Potter was here. Of course it only took me an instant to figure out she was lying but the next thing I knew she was pointing my own wand at me and she must have _stupefied_ me. 

"Did you ever tell your mother to lock the gates?" Lucius demanded. 

"No-I-I saw her so I just chased her down this hall." Mr. Malfoy took a big breath. 

"Draco, I understand your mistake. However that doesn't change the fact that if the girl gets out without a memory charm, it could be very detrimental. Now how do you think she left?" 

"Ummm," Draco said, "she must have just walked out the front door." 

"No, that's locked." Lucius said. Then he spotted the open window. "Where's your birthday present?" 

"I don't know!" Draco said exasperated. 

"Not the girl! The Firebolt!" 

"Leaning up against..." but the broom wasn't there, "Ugh, she must have taken the broom," he said. Lucius grabbed Draco's pocket watch. 

"10:15" Lucius said, "She could be anywhere by now. Take your old Nimbus and chase her down." 

"Yes Father." Draco said and in seconds he had located his broom and was off, flying out the same open window. 

~ 

Ginny landed outside a village. It wasn't the best idea but she knew flying in the wrong direction would be an extreme waste of time. She reasoned tomorrow she could figure out exactly where she was and then at least get a relative idea of which direction she should fly in. After flying rather low, for quite some time she found a small alcove in the wood where she could sleep and transfigured a rock into a large feather pillow. She hoped she was still close enough to the manor where no one would notice. Obviously Draco was allowed to do Magic outside of school. She tried to sleep but she was too excited. All she could think was _I'M FREE!_ The panic she was feeling earlier had passed; she could get home one-way or another. She just hoped she wasn't too far away. 

~ 

Fay Bainbridge sat outside her cottage in Yorkshire. Even at sixty-five she never tired of looking at the immense blanket of stars the Good Lord lay before her every night. She had lived in her cottage ever since she was a little girl and the sky never ceased to amaze her. She was just admiring a constellation she had never quite noticed before when a girl or something zoomed in and out of her vision, and _was she riding a broomstick?_ _No_ she told herself _girls don't ride broomsticks._ However, thirty minutes later she was quite sure she saw a boy riding a broomstick. Not long after that she decided it was time to go inside, telling herself her eyes were going with age. _Ah,_ said a small nagging voice inside her head, _but you've been seeing boy's like him on broomsticks since you were little._

~ 

Ginny looked up at the sky admiring the stars. Although she saw the stars in all their glory almost every night at Hogwarts, tonight they were particularly beautiful. It felt so good to sleep in the open air, feeling the slight breeze against her body and the calls of animals not hindered by thick oppressive walls. The vast dome of ever twinkling stars was as open and wide as her pink canopy bed was small and confining. She was in the middle of admiring the fact that she could see the outdoors wherever she looked when something sped above her with a loud **_whoosh_**. She looked up and caught the tale end of what had to be Draco Malfoy flying above her. Had he seen her? Was her freedom going to be so short? Life couldn't be so cruel as to allow her such a brief glimpse of what she was missing before it threw her back into captivity! She made up her mind. As wonderful as it felt to be outdoors she couldn't stay there for Draco to find and capture once more. It was all too dangerous. 

~ 

Draco Malfoy sped on in search of Ginny, genuinely surprised at his father's lack of an outburst even though he had let the girl get away. If Ginny was smart enough to get out of the Manor, he was sure she was smart enough to not stop anywhere close to the manor. So he sped as fast as he could for the first forty-five minutes, figuring that was how much of a lead she had with a thirty-minute head start and a superior broom. 

~ 

Rushing in the opposite direction of Draco's path, Ginny went off in search of somewhere to stay. She only hoped she was in some sort of Wizarding establishment, of course the odds of that being true were slim to none. She mounted her broom and, going as slow as the Firebolt would allow, started off through the tress. Despite the slower speed, the journey was still break-neck and wonderfully enjoyable after being encaged for so long. However she wasn't prepared to emerge from the woods at full speed onto a busy street. She severed upward and only narrowly avoided getting hit. The sudden jerk caused her to suddenly soar above the trees and her eyes fell upon her answer, a small town. She landed on the outskirts and hid the broom in an alleyway. Now there was only the problem of money. She needed somewhere to stay but she only had Malfoy's small bag of galleons. Briefly she considered transfiguring some spare twigs into muggle money but a conversation that transpired between her mother and father came back to her. Arthur was discussing a new muggle protection act and she was almost certain she had heard him talking about the goblins charming muggle money so it couldn't be magicked into existence in any way shape or form. But something from the same conversation also floated back to her memory. Hadn't her father said something along the lines of "the only thing that can now be converted to muggle money is a galleon?" But what was the charm to do such a thing she distinctly remembered him saying "with the charm..." but she couldn't remember it. _'Motorlis?' _she guessed_ No, but that sounds about right around right, 'Muto..' I think that's close... 'Mutomortal...' no, AH-HA! _She thought_, I've got it' _

_"Mutomortalis,"_ she called aiming the wand at the moneybag. The next thing she knew the bag had lightened considerably and she pulled out a wad of bills. She ran down the main street of the town, looking for somewhere to stay before Malfoy decided to double back and find her. 

~ 

Draco Malfoy slowed down and starting scanning the ground for Ginny. He had to find her! 

~ 

Ginny found just the place she was looking for. White letters reading _"Holmlea Guesthouse,"_ donned the black awning above the door. The place looked warm and inviting, even in the harsh electronic light she wasn't used to. Hurrying across the street she stuffed the wand into her robe pocket and opened the door. A light **_ching_ **was heard in the lobby. A lady appeared behind the counter. 

"Yes?" she said, eyeing Ginny's robes. 

"I'd umm, like a room." Ginny said. The lady was smiling but Ginny had the distinct feeling the woman would resemble Professor McGonagall if she frowned. 

"We don't rent rooms to those under age of eighteen," she said sternly and Ginny found her prediction was correct, "Especially those wearing costumes." 

"But, but, oh please!" Ginny said, she couldn't go back out there, Draco could be anywhere and she would NOT go back to the Malfoy Manor. 

"Are you in trouble with the law?" she asked. 

"What? Oh no! I just, I've been ummm-" she knew she couldn't say 'kidnapped' because then the woman would probably ask who her parents were and how she could reach them, and she highly doubted this woman would happen to have a post owl on hand, or a fireplace connect to the floo network. 

"Well what is it?" 

"I really need a room." 

"You've made yourself quite clear on that subject. Why Miss..?" 

"Weasley," 

"Why Miss Weasley do you need a room?" 

Ginny gave up; if she knew one thing from spending so much time with the Malfoys it was 'money talks.' "I'll pay you double the normal rate." 

"Are you quite certain you haven't had a run in with the law?" 

"Yes, if any law enforcement comes looking for me you can lead them right up to my room. But uhh," she hesitated, "If a pale blonde haired boy comes in looking for me, don't tell him I'm here." she paused and eyed the woman doubtfully, "Please?" she knew she was pushing it but she couldn't risk Draco finding her. The woman's face suddenly softened upon hearing Ginny's words. She figured the girl must have had a run in with her boyfriend and was fleeing him. She couldn't charge her double now. 

"Oh," she said quietly, "I see. Well, thirty pounds then." 

Ginny pulled out the money sack and gave the woman a piece of paper with a 'ten' and another one with a 'twenty' hoping she was interpreting their currency right. "I'm Mrs. Ladd." the woman said, "I'll lead you to your room." She led Ginny up a staircase and to a door with a large black '3' on it. "A continental breakfast is included what time would you like it brought to you?" 

"Uhhh, maybe around nine." she said, she was going to enjoying waking up with no Malfoy to be sugary sweet to. 

"Right," the woman opened the door and handed Ginny the key, "Enjoy yourself Miss. Weasley." 

"I will," she said "Thank you." 

"Of course." Mrs. Ladd turned and left closing the door behind her. 

~ 

An hour of searching was leading Draco Malfoy to nowhere. He wondered if he should go back to the house. But that idea was quickly over-ruled. He didn't think his father would be as understanding if he gave up. With a grunt of resignation, he leaned forward giving the Nimbus 2001 an extra burst of speed. 

A/N: Good news; I no longer have writers block! I'm almost done with this story but I'm planning on a sequel. **If you want me to e-mail you when I update just review** because I've taken to emailing everyone who reviews to tell them when the next chapter is up!


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Ginny let the door close behind her and looked around the room. She sighed when her eyes fell upon a skylight. As much as she didn't want to, she would have to cover that. Luckily the window had curtains she could pull across. The room was pretty simple, it was painted white and had a large bed. She slipped out of her robes and decided she could sleep in her undergarments. The room was equipped with what she recognized as a television and thought it might be fun to try and watch it. She went up to the large black box and looked at the bottom. There were five buttons, 'Volume +' 'Volume -' 'channel +' 'channel -' and 'power'. She tried them all in order and was shocked when the T.V. went on suddenly with the last button. She then realized that the sound the TV made was too loud, so she immediately thought of pressing the volume- button so as to quiet it down. To her relief, the TV got quieter. It didn't take long for her to become engrossed in the program, and it also didn't take her very long to be glad she lived in the Wizarding world, if the muggle world was anything like this movie portrayed. The program was about a guy named "James Blond" or something, and he seemed to be constantly shooting people. Did men in suits really walk around muggle Britain shooting people? It also gave her a chance to see why her father was so interested in the muggle world. From the looks of it they had come up with things using electricity to rival anything that could be done with magic. As soon as her energies transferred from her worries to those of James's she became very tired. Climbing out of the bed where she had perched to watch the television, she turned off the T.V. (but only after a few trials and errors, who would have guessed the 'power' button turned it on _and_ off?) and went to bed. 

She awoke to a knocking at the door. _Where am I_? she wondered, _who's knocking at my door?_ and then it all came back to her, the escape, seeing Malfoy flying, coming to the inn, and asking for breakfast to be served at nine a.m. A glance at the clock on the bedside table revealed that it was indeed nine o'clock. Throwing on her robes on the way to the door, she got out of bed and opened the door to see Mrs. Ladd standing holding her tray. 

Normally Mrs. Ladd had her staff bring up breakfast to people, but this little girl in flight from her abusive boyfriend had struck a soft spot in her. In fact, another look at her revealed something that she should have noticed right away last night. The girl had a row of what were unmistakably bite marks on the side of her neck. Her sympathy for the girl grew larger with the realization that not only was her boyfriend abusing her, but sexually harassing her too. 

Ginny caught the woman looking at her neck and her hand flew there to try and cover it, "I uhhh-" she stuttered. How was it that after weeks of lying to Malfoy she couldn't come up with a suitable story now? 

"You should go to the police dear," the woman, said, "I don't know why you haven't yet. You shouldn't protect a boy that's abusing you." Ginny couldn't believe her luck; she didn't have to come up with a story. Mrs. Ladd had done it for her. 

"I want to get home first, I don't trust him not to come after me if I'm out in the open," she lied with ease. 

"Oh child, where do you live? Do you need bus fare?" 

_Bus fare!_ she thought, _The Knight Bus._ Now of course it seemed so logical. Why hadn't she thought of it before? The problem was the Knight Bus only worked at night. Oh well, she could stay inside and leave tonight. If Mrs. Ladd thought Ginny was being abused she would never let anyone who fit Draco's description up. 

"Oh no," Ginny said to Mrs. Ladd, "My parents won't be home until tomorrow morning. That's why I didn't go home in the first place, being in an empty house seemed more dangerous than going to an inn. I'm going to travel tonight though. Thank you for the offer." 

"Of course sweet heart. Just promise me once you get home you'll report the boy who did this to you." 

"I promise I will," she said honestly. 

"What did you say this boy looked like?" 

"Oh very pale, blond hair, gray eyes. But his father might come looking for me to, he looks just like his son only taller." 

"Oh the father approves of his action enough to come looking for you too? That's such a shame, but it's no wonder. If the father allows this sort of thing the son is destine to turn out bad." 

"Yeah, I'm glad I got out." 

"I'm happy for you too darling." Mrs. Ladd said, "Well I must be going. Enjoy your breakfast Luv." 

"I will, thank you." she replied taking the tray and turning from the door. 

"Oh wait," she called. 

"Yes?" 

"What is your name?" 

Ginny hesitated, but then again, what would be the harm in telling this woman her real name. "Ginny Weasley," she replied. 

"Well Ginny, you can stay here for free for the afternoon." 

"Thank you," she said again. 

"Yes of course. Well, have a good day." 

"I will. Thanks." and Mrs. Ladd finally left. 

Ginny ate her breakfast then proceeded to spend the rest of the day as most muggle teens her age would, watching the television. Mrs. Ladd brought up all her meals and Ginny, desperately calculating how many dollars she had compared to how many galleons she had started with, decided to give her a bill with a small '10' on it. She insisted the food was free but nonetheless she accepted the note. Only after Ginny had watched another James Bond movie (as the box seemed to be calling them) four hours of American sitcoms, slept for lack of anything better to do, and watched a very odd yet somehow funny show with a title like "Flying Circus", did it finally grow dark and did she dare to leave her room to hail the Knight Bus. 

~ 

After flying around all night Draco had finally given up and was ready to return to the Manor. He was quite certain his father would be able to work something out and he had given it his best effort. He had decided to turn around at around dinnertime when his stomach started to make loud noises of protest of having to skip another meal. At nine o'clock he was almost home. 

~ 

She walked quietly down to the ground level and was just stepping out the door. Last night she had stashed the broom in a alleyway across they way. She planned to grab the broom then hail the bus. She had just turned the handle when Mrs. Ladd caught up with her. 

"Miss Weasley" she yelled, and Ginny, barely suppressing a groan, turned around to face her. 

"Are you leaving so soon?" 

"Er- yes, I was just going to walk to the bus stop." 

"Surely you can't be serious. I thought you didn't want that boy to find you." 

"I don't, but I don't think he's uh, still looking for me," she said. 

"Never have I heard such nonsense! I'm giving you a ride." 

"No Mrs. Ladd, really that isn't-" 

"Necessary? Of course it is. Besides, it's no trouble. Now you just wait right here while I go get my keys." 

"Yes ma'am," Ginny mumbled as the woman disappeared into the back in obvious search for her keys. Waiting there she had half a mind to bolt but the woman had been so nice to her that she couldn't possibly. She would just simply pretend to get onto a bus, and if worse came to worse, she could always get on a bus, get off at the first stop and hail the Knight Bus from there. 

"Come deary let's go," she said and ushered Ginny out to the car. Ginny was glad she had ridden in cars numerous times so she wouldn't look out of place. They drove the three kilometersto the bus stop. Ginny watched the scenery rush past in a blur. Mrs. Ladd tried desperately to try and accompany Ginny to her bus but Ginny insisted that Mrs. Ladd had already done enough and that she didn't wish to trouble her anymore. Bidding Mrs. Ladd one final thanks and goodbye Ginny walked towards the ticket counter, disappeared into a crowd and fled all the way back to the alleyway where she had hid the Firebolt, ran back into the street to hail the Knight Bus. 

"Help!" she said sticking her right hand over the road, and the Knight Bus appeared. Ginny never imagined a violet bus to be so alluring but this one, and the safety it encompassed was. 

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Stunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening. Where may we take you tonight?" 

"Ottery St. Catchpole," Ginny said looking around anxiously and being certain to stay in the shadows. 

"Yes Miss that will be two galleons." Ginny felt her stomach drop. 

"I've only muggle money!" she cried desperately, "but this is an emergency. I promise I'll pay you as soon as we arrive at my home." 

"Well, now we'd be broke if we bought that every time," the young man said. 

"No. You don't understand. I've been kidnapped and I transfigured all the galleons I stole from my capturer into muggle money so I coul-" 

"Kidnapped?" Stan interrupted her, "Come Closer," he said, beckoning towards the small amount of flickering candlelight emanating from the interior of the bus. Ginny stepped into the light. 

"Blimey! You're Ginny Weasley!" he said his eyes growing wide, "The ministry's been lookin' for ya!" 

"I know! So can't you let me on the bus and I'll pay you when we get there?" 

"Well," Stan said hesitating, "we're not supposed to..." 

"Please Stan, please!" Ginny pleaded. 

"Oh alright!" he said, "I suppose we'll take you home first." 

"Thank you Stan!" Ginny said and rushed onto the bus. 

~ 

Draco was close to home and equally close to sleep. His head was drooping onto the handle of his broom. **_BANG_** A loud sound suddenly jolted him from the promises of sleep. He looked down and saw that in his tiredness he had flown directly over the muggle town. However there was also something very un-muggle, a big purple bus and a redheaded girl in green robes dashing into it. He froze and hovered in mid-air, watching the purple bus as it **_BANGED_ **away. Ginny was on her way home. He needed to tell his father. 

~ 

Ginny hardly had time to find a bed to sit on before the bus had "**_BANGED_** and they were in front of the Burrow. She had numerous homecomings from Hogwarts, each time returning as homesick as the last. She never thought she'd welcome the sight of the ransacked Burrow as much as she did after a day long journey on the Hogwarts Express, but after her thirty second journey on the Knight Bus, the Burrow had never looked so appealing. 

"Thanks Stan." she said quietly staring at house. It was almost too good to be true, she was still waiting for Draco to shake her awake and try and cuddle with her. "Umm I'll go and get the money shall I?" 

"No," Stand said giving her a wink, "it's free." 

"Thanks," she said quietly and walked off the bus. Like a dream, she walked into the Burrow. "Hello, " she called into the silent house. 

~ 

Harry was now looking forward to Hogwarts more than he ever had on Privet Drive. In the last day Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's fighting had reached an all time high. No longer did they bother to try and hide their arguments when in view of their children. The fact that it was the eve of their children's departure for Hogwarts did little to quell their arguments. In truth, it seemed to fuel their yelling matches. 

"Why haven't you done anything?!" Mrs. Weasley was yelling again. 

"Molly," Arthur said calmly, "THERE'S NOTHING TO BE DONE! WE CAN'T GET HER BACK UNTIL LUCIUS DECIDES TO GIVE HER BACK OR SHE GETS OUT ON HER OWN!" 

"Well it's a fine time to develop a sense of wisdom over that ruddy family. WHEN YOUR OWN DAUGHTER IS IN THEIR CLUTCHES." 

"You know MAYBE I could think of something to do if you weren't hounding on me all the time telling me what a failure I am!" Arthur returned. 

"You know if you had accepted those promotions MAYBE you wouldn't have to be so scared of Lucius. MAYBE you'd have a bit more say at the Ministry, and MAYBE we wouldn't all have to go around donning second hand robes!" 

"How DARE YOU?!?!" Arthur yelled standing up, his chair scraping the floor, "You were the one who encouraged me to stay in my job. SAID you didn't CARE what kind of money we had so long as I was happy. Stupid me BELIEVED _you_." 

The yelling was so loud no one heard a loud **_BANG_** outside the house. 

"YOU KNOW WHAT?" Molly said, "LET'S NOT SAY A WORd SINCE YOU ARE CLEARLY INCAPABLE OF BEHAVING LIKE AN ADULT." Mr. Weasley opened his mouth as if he might want to say something but stopped. He was too tired to argue and didn't care if Molly had the last word. A tense silence fell over the house, only to be broken by a voice calling, "Hello?" 

**A/N**: I hoped you all liked chapter 18. **If you want an e-mail update review!** Please review each time I post another chapter because it's much easier to reply to reviews from the time I updated chapter 17 than to go all the way back. Make sure you leave your e-mail. **Review replies** are also in the e-mail update. By the way, does anyone have any ideas for a sequel name? 


	19. Chapter Nineteen

The Weasleys froze upon hearing the voice. It couldn't be! No one dared believe it until a redheaded figure emerged from the foyer into the kitchen. 

~ 

Draco Malfoy landed with ease just outside the Manor's back door. 

"Father," he called, "I just saw Ginny getting on the Knight Bus! I had no way to stop her." 

"Excuse me?" His father said running down the stairs, his robes out behind them. Only then did Draco realize the magnitude of his error, his father never ran. Lucius was always cool and composed. Draco had never seen him be anything else. 

"I, uh, she, Knight Bus," he stuttered looking up at his father's infuriated face. 

"What?" he said calmly, then lost of his composure, "HOW COULD YOU LET HER GET AWAY?!" 

"She was on the bus! All I saw was the tale end of her robes!" he desperately cried then proceeded to back up a few steps; he had never seen his father so livid. 

"How could you make such a colossal error Draco?" asked a once again calm Lucius in a deadly icy voice. 

"I couldn't have stopped her if I tried!" Draco said in panic. 

"Did you try?" 

"Of course!" Draco lied. 

"Liar," Lucius spat. 

"I did!" 

"No not _lie_ to me Draco. I don't have _time_ for these silly games." 

"I uhhh-uhhh," Draco stuttered. 

"Well I suppose it doesn't matter, the point is she got away." 

"Let me hel-" 

"NO," Lucius said, "_You've_ done enough!" 

"Father," 

"SILENCE. Now I might be able to fix this if you stay silent for once and let me think." Draco narrowed his eyes and watched his Father. Okay so he had let the girl escape and then let her get away a second time but he didn't know what to do. His father had never let him do anything and now he was expecting him to formulate plans. "Alright," Lucius finally said, "I have a plan. I'm first going to hail the Knight Bus, and perform a memory charm on the conductor. And first thing tomorrow morning I'm going to the Ministry to tell them that you saw Ginny wandering around lost and put her on the Knight Bus home, but unfortunately the girl had been placed under a Confundus Charm. I'll tell them this charm causes her to believe the first wizard she sees is the one who kidnapped her. This wizard is apparently you my son. I'm going to say you were flying over the muggle settlement so you didn't go right to the ministry because you thought you'd get in trouble for your misdemeanor. I'll insist that you pay the fine and we'll be in the clear. If Arthur says anything he'll look like a babbling fool who easily fell for a Confundus charm. 

"It's a good plan father," Draco said. 

"Of course it is. Now I'm going to hail the Knight Bus. _You_ are to stay here at the manor. Understood?" 

"Yes Father," Draco said quietly looking down. 

"Good," Lucius nodded, "Now I suggest you retire to your room. You have to leave tomorrow for the train at eleven." 

"Uh-huh," Draco said dejectedly and watched as his father Disapparated with pop, presumably to just outside the Manor to hail the Knight Bus. Dragging his Nimbus 2001 listlessly behind him, he started up to his room. 

~ 

"Hello?" Ginny called into the Burrow, "Is-is anyone home?" she said. Tears were now welling up in her eyes. Partly because she feared no one was home but mostly because she was just so glad to _be_ home. She walked down the foyer and into the kitchen to find the entire Weasley family along with Hermione and Harry starring right at her, a few of them even had their mouths hanging open. "Umm, hi," she said quietly clutching the wall for support, "I-I" she paused, "I made it!" she wailed and broke down into tremendous sobs. That was all it took the Weasleys to get over the their shock and in a sudden scrapping of chairs and scrambling of feet, Ginny was wrapped in dozens of arms holding her closely and a multitude of voices telling her not to cry. 

"My baby!!" Molly who was holding her closest sobbed, "My baby is home!!!" and she hugged Ginny close to her chest. "Don't cry Ginny, you're home now. Everything will be okay," she cooed. Which only caused Ginny a fresh wave of emotions accompanied by more tears. Someone finally got the sense to see that Ginny needed to sit and she was guided to a chair where she sat balling while everyone stood above her. She knew this wasn't what her family had expected her to be like at her homecoming, and honestly, she also thought her return would bring nothing but smiles, but she couldn't help it. She was so overridden with emotion about being home, being in her mother loving arms, and relief that there was no Malfoy waiting for her with those horrible hands and a cold sneer. 

"You're home now Ginny," Harry spoke up, "no one is going to let Malfoy hurt you ever again." 

"It's not, not that," she wailed, "I'm just," _hiccup_, "so happy to be h-home," and a fresh wave of emotional sobs fell. 

"There there," Arthur said gently patting her back, "just let it all out Sweetheart. You're safe. We're so happy you're home." he said. Ginny cried harder. She was just so relieved to be home. 

~ 

Only ten minutes after dropping Ginny off, the Knight Bus was hailed back to York. 

"Welcome to the Knigh-" Stan began but quickly stopped when he saw their potential passenger pointing a wand straight at his temple. 

"Who else was on the bus when you picked up the Weasley girl?" 

"No-no one," Stan stuttered. 

"Liar!" Lucius said jabbing the wand at him. 

"Honestly!" Stan said, "I'm not gonna lie to ya when you've got a wand pointed right at me!" 

"Fine, _Obliviate,_" Lucius said, "you never saw the Weasley girl, I just accidentally hailed you here. 

"Sir," Stan said suddenly, "We have business to attend to, I would appreciate it if you would only call when you are truly in trouble." 

"Of course!" Lucius said gaily, "I'm terribly sorry, let me pay you for your troubles," and he dropped a galleon in Stan's hand. 

"Why thank you," Stan said and got back onto the bus. With a loud BANG the bus was gone and then with a pop Lucius was in his study once more. He needed to think about what he was going to tell the Ministry the following morning. 

~ 

It took Ginny a good half an hour to calm down. Everyone in the house was anxious to hear her tale but no one wanted to be the first to ask. The odd combination of tension and relief was almost palpable. 

"I want to go to the Ministry with you tomorrow dad," Ginny spoke quietly, "and tell them exactly what happened. I want both Draco and Lucius to pay for this." 

"If that's what you want Ginny." Arthur said quietly. 

"Yes," she nodded vigorously, "I've been planning on it since my first few days there." 

"Okay, then that's what we'll do," Arthur agreed. 

"I used magic to get out though. Escaping a kidnapper counts as an emergency right?" 

"If that doesn't I don't know what does," Ron spoke up. 

"To true," George agreed. 

"I'll tell you all now," she said quietly, "How it started and how I got out, that is," she paused, "but nothing else. I can't, well, I just can't think of it." 

"That's okay Ginny," Hermione said, "You just tell us whatever you feel comfortable telling." 

Ginny nodded and began to tell them the whole tale beginning with turning over and finding Lucius hovering over her bed and ending with her escape and ride home on the Knight Bus. She left out any references to Draco touching her, but everyone understood what she meant when she said 'Draco visited' her. Even without the rape, the story was horrific, all the lonely desperation and having to act so dim-witted. 

"I hate him," she finished, "I hate everything about him. I hope he gets a nice long kiss from the dementors, him and his horrid father." 

"He will Ginny," Percy spoke up, "rape is a serious offence. The Ministry would never let anyone get away with it." Arthur glanced at his son. He wished he still had that much faith in their government. He had a strange feeling that Lucius would get away with this. However, he was willing to fight against Lucius now that there was no potential harm towards Ginny. There was an odd silence in which everyone was doing one of two things, thinking how happy they were that Ginny was home, or contemplating what they would do to Draco Malfoy if they ever got their hands on him, although the latter was always spawned from the first. 

"Ginny," Harry said, "I'm going to beat Draco to a bloody pulp in Quidditch and have the beaters make sure he falls of his broom." 

"Thanks Harry." Ginny said glancing up to where he was standing above her, and despite the horrors she had been through with Malfoy, she couldn't help but smile when their eyes locked. 

~ 

Draco Malfoy was sitting in his room brooding over the injustices that had been done to him in the last few days. He had lost his birthday present, and he had so liked that one. _No,_ he reminded himself, _you liked the girl she pretended to be. She was really a conniving deceitful bitch._ Still, he wished he could have kept her a little longer, even if he could never spend any time with her during the day. Shagging Ginny gave him such a power rush, and he was unlikely to be given any Death Eater opportunities since he had supposedly let the girl escape. It didn't fail to register that had he not let the girl escape, he would still be a Death Eater. Shagging Ginny and the power rush it encompassed would be nothing compared to the high he felt when he had his wand pointed at Mr. Diggory. It still thrilled him to think of it. He wondered what had happened at the Ministry when Amos didn't show up. Too bad his father would probably not divulge the details. All in all he supposed it was best he was leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow. His father couldn't strip too many privileges from him if he was already at boarding school. He laid down punching his pillow a few times in order to make himself comfortable. 

**A/N: **If you want an update **e-mail **review and do me a HUGE favor and put your e-mail address in your review. I'd really appreciate it. I'll **reply to all reviews** in the e-mail update. **Also, ****I'm looking for someone to draw some fanart for me**. I just want a few scenes illustrated in the sequel and maybe one or two from here. If anyone would like to, or knows someone that would like to, please e-mail me, celestialanglexv@hotmail.com with an attachment or a link where I can see an example of your stuff. Thanks bunches! 


	20. Chapter Twenty

It was very late, or rather very early, before the Weasley lot headed up to bed. Everyone was so glad to have Ginny home that no one even noticed how late it was. Ginny was so relieved that she just sat on the couch and listened to everyone tell her what had happened. It didn't escape her that Harry was sitting right next to her, and that he kept glancing at her. Around 3 a.m. she curled up into a little ball on the couch and fell asleep  
listening to the clatter and bustle of the Burrow as she drifted off. It wasn't until she felt someone lifting her and carrying her that she woke up. Slowly she opened her eyes to reveal her father carrying up the sloping staircase to her room.  
"I'm so glad to be home," she mumbled before leaning her head against her  
father's chest.  
"We're so glad you're home too pumpkin," Mr. Weasley said soothingly. 

Arthur deposited Ginny in her bed and quietly shut the door behind him. He turned to go to his door and prepared to face his wife. So much had happened in the last few hours that it seemed like much longer since they had sat in the kitchen yelling. Yet no matter how distant the memory seemed, the pain of her words was still fresh in his mind. Taking a deep breath, and not exactly sure of what to expect he opened the door and took a step inside. He found Molly already in bed. She looked up when he entered.  
"I-" she said looking up at him; she looked like a person who was guilty  
and trying to find words to apologize. Arthur only stood and looked at her.  
"Arthur I'm sorry," she sighed finally, "I don't know what else to say."  
"Those words hurt Molly," he said slowly. 

"I know!" she said her cheeks burning with shame, "I don't know what came over me. I never meant them. I've never even thought them before! But with Ginny missing I just wanted her back and I was so frustrated..." she trailed off, and looked up at him, "I really truly am sorry Arthur. Can you forgive me? Please? I know I've been impossible these last weeks but, but I'm sorry," she finished.  
"Molly," Arthur said with a sigh, "I was only trying to do what's best. I knew Lucius would find out if I went to the Ministry and I knew what he would do to Ginny too."  
"I know Arthur. I see that now but all I could think about was Draco Malfoy's hands on my baby," she sniffed, "All that matter's now is she's home and I'm sorry."  
"I know Molly," he said with a sigh, "I know."  
"Oh Arthur," Molly called and jumped up hugging him. Arthur bent down and kissed his wife soundly on the mouth.  
"Let's just work together from now on," Arthur said. Mrs. Weasley agreed by  
hugging her husband close to her. 

Ginny awoke the next morning to the unmistakable sound of people getting ready to leave for the Hogwarts Express. It didn't matter that only Ron, Harry and Hermione were going, and Hermione had had her trunk packed for ages, it was still hectic. Everyone had decided she should wait a week before leaving herself. She smiled then sat up and did something she'd been longing to do forever: rose from the bed, walked to the door, turned the knob and walked out of the room downstairs. 

"Morning!" Hermione greeted as she walked in. 

"Morning Ginny," Harry said. 

"Good Morning!" she greeted taking a seat at the table, 

"Ausashes an affeul er ekfeth" Ron said his mouth full of food. 

"Huh?" Ginny asked. 

"Sausages and waffles for breakfast," Harry translated and handed her the frying pan. 

"No thanks," she said waving the plate away. I'm feeling rather odd actually. I suspect it's just from the stress of trying to get out. I'll be better in a few days." 

"Whatever you say," Harry said shrugging and taking what would have been Ginny's sausages for himself. 

"Morning all!" Percy said as he Apparated with a _pop_ into the kitchen. 

"Morning Percy," Ron grumbled swallowing his food. Everyone thought the constant need for Percy to show he was indeed able to Apparate would wear off with time. It hadn't. 

"Father and I are going to take you to the ministry as soon as he's ready. Why don't you go get ready?" 

"Yeah," Ginny said, "I should," she got up from the table having not eaten a bite and walked upstairs passing her father on the way. 

"Morning sweetheart," Arthur greeted. "As soon as you're ready we can take you to the ministry by floo." 

"Yeah I know," she said brightly, "Percy just told me. Dad I can't wait to put Mr. Malfoy away. I know Draco's a Death Eater too, he's been gone during the days for the last week and two nights ago and I saw him in Death Eater robes the night I left. Has there been any news of attacks?" 

"All last week you say?" Arthur said stopping and turning around to face Ginny. 

"Yes. Why?" 

"And two nights ago?" 

"Yes. Why dad?" 

"Because," he hesitated, "Well because there has been a string of Muggle attacks and two nights ago the Diggorys were hit. It was horrible, we could see the Dark Mark from here." 

"That was the Malfoys, Dad. I'm sure of it." 

"Well go get ready so we can get to the Ministry. I'm willing to bet the Minister will see us directly." 

Ginny nodded and hurried up to her room. 

~ 

"I'm ready Mother." Draco Malfoy called. He was standing at the base of the stairs with his school trunk, ready to go. Mrs. Malfoy walked calmly down the stairs to accompany her son on the four-hour car ride to King's Cross. 

"I still don't see why we can't take a magical coach into London." Draco pouted, "The ride would only take but a few minutes that way." 

"Don't be silly Draco," Mrs. Malfoy scolded, "We can't let the muggles see us arriving in a coach. It would be far to conspicuous." 

"Whatever," Draco said. He was still in an incredibly foul mood. His father had explicitly told him he wasn't to go near Ginny while at school. 

"I don't need rumors that you actually did rape her going around Hogwarts," Lucius had said. Draco in return had mumbled and left the room. 

"Come along Draco," Mrs. Malfoy said, "Do you have your new wand with you?" she asked. Seeing as how Ginny had left with Draco's wand, Mrs. Malfoy had gone to Mr. Ollivanders to tell him her son had broken his wand and needed a new one. Mr. Ollivander wasn't too keen on the idea but after Mrs. Malfoy had offered to donate 700 galleons to his research he produced a wand identical to Draco's in every way. Most unfortunately, he never received the money, nor did he have any recollection of providing Mrs. Malfoy with such a wand because Mrs. Malfoy immediately put a memory charm on him. 

"Of course I have my wand!" Draco said, "Why would I try and leave for school without my _wand_?" Two house elves came and carried Draco's trunk along to the car while the human driver waited for them. Draco climbed into the car and sat down crossing his arms and glaring out of the window. "What's wrong Draco?" Mrs. Malfoy asked calmly. 

"I've lost my present. I liked that one!" he said pounding the back of the drivers seat and causing the car to swerve. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" Draco commanded. The driver, having become extremely used to this sort of behavior simply replied, "I'm sorry Sir, I will try to be more careful next time." only to be ignored. 

"Well you couldn't have kept that girl forever Draco," Mrs. Malfoy said calmly, "Sooner or later someone would have found her. I suspect she would have gone a bit bonkers before that though," she added as an afterthought. 

"Well I could have at least kept her until Christmas Break," Draco commented. He was silent for a minute but suddenly added, "I just can't believe she had the gull to lie to me! After all the things I did to make her stay comfortable. I didn't have to go see her every night but I did because she _said_ she was always so lonely!" 

"So that's what this is all about." Mrs. Malfoy mused. 

"What?" Draco snapped turning to look at his mother. 

"Well you liked having this girl around to talk to and be with. I don't blame you, the manor is rather devoid of any sort of peer companionship for you." 

"Are you suggesting I actually liked Ginny?" he asked, amazed that his mother could even think such a thing. A Malfoy liking a Weasley, it was absurd. 

"I'm saying you liked how she acted and had fun playing with her like you would with a pet." Mrs. Malfoy clarified. 

"She was my pet." Draco said. 

"Except your pet betrayed you. A loyal pet wouldn't betray you. You're just upset because she wasn't as loyal as you thought." 

"I'm upset because she's a lying little manipulative whore," Draco said, his eyes narrowing at his mother. 

Mrs. Malfoy simply smiled and looked out the window. She and her son were simply using different words to describe the same feelings. 

~ 

Twenty minutes later Ginny, Mr. Weasley, and Percy were all standing by the fireplace ready to go. Ginny had the letters she had written to her family and Draco's wand as proof. 

"Let's go!" Ginny said, "I can't wait to see the look of Mr. Malfoy's face when he's charged with kidnapping and rape!" One by one the three of them stepped into the flame shouting, "MINISTRY OF MAGIC," and were whisked away. 

Ginny landed with a slight thump in what was clearly the Ministry's lobby. The place was loud and had wizards running back and forth but as she stood up to wipe the soot off her robes the entire place grew beyond quiet. Slowly, she looked up to find everyone staring at her. 

"Ms. Weasley," a random wizard said, "We're glad you're back." She only had time to nod before her father had taken her by the arm and started to lead her away. 

"Where are we going?" Ginny asked once the lobby had regained its usual hustle and bustle. 

"Right to the Minister," Arthur said, "I don't want to give Lucius any time to wiggle his way out of this one." Ginny, knowing her father was right allowed herself to be pulled up what felt like 200 different staircase and led down over corridor after corridor until they finally stopped in front of a large door. Arthur knocked. 

"Come in!" called a distinctly feminine voice. 

"Hello, Celia" Percy said addressing a women behind the desk as he walked in with a strut. Percy was clearly boastful about the fact that he knew the Minister's secretary by name. Although Ginny reckoned it was because they had rather similar jobs, not because he made frequent visits to the Minister himself. 

"Ms. Weasley!" the secretary beamed her eyes falling on Ginny and ignoring Percy, "the Minister will be delighted to see you. He's been looking for you for some time!" 

"Uh, thanks." Ginny said and was immediately shot a look by Percy. 

"I think what my sister means to say is that she's appreciative of the time and resources the Ministry spent looking for her." 

"We need to see the Minister straight away." Arthur said ignoring both of his children. 

"Well he is already with someone but I'm sure he'd be happy to see you, let me just tell him you're here. 

Ginny watched as the secretary probed her wand against a circular slab of marble and a floating image of Cornelius Fudge appeared. 

"I have Arthur Weasley along with his daughter here Mr. Minister," Celia said. 

"Perfect!" The image bellowed back, "Send them in. Send them in!" 

"Of course Mr. Minister," Celia said. The image faded and Celia sent a jet of light at the door that presumably unlocked it. 

"Go right in," Celia smiled. 

Ginny walked in and almost fainted. There, standing with the Minister was Lucius Malfoy. 

A/N: To all of those I promised a twenty chapter story, I LIED (Just sort me into Slytherin...) I just couldn't resist this cliffhanger. The thing you're really going to hate me for: I have Chapter 21 98% written. I'm still looking for someone to draw some fanart!

**PLEASE PUT YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR REVIEW IF YOU WANT A CHAPTER UPDATE NOTICE!**

I just don't want to send updates to those who don't want them. I will reply to reviews in that e-mail. 


	21. Chapter TwentyOne

Ginny immediately grabbed onto her father's arm. 

"Mr. Minister," Arthur said, I would appreciate it if I could talk to you alone about this matter. 

"He kidnapped me," Ginny said quietly, "I don't know what he's told you but he was the one who kidnapped me. 

"She's telling the truth sir," Arthur spoke up, "Lucius has had her locked up in a room in his manor for a month now." 

"Arthur, Arthur," Fudge said waving his hand to silence Mr. Weasley, "I'm afraid you're mistaken, Lucius has explained it all." 

"Explain what?" Ginny spoke up, "How his son raped me so many times that I've lost count?" 

"Oh poor dear," Fudge spoke up, "Doesn't even know what's happened to her." 

"What's going on?" Arthur asked, "Why is he here? He's been holding my daughter prisoner for a month." 

"No no, let me explain," Lucius spoke up, "I'm afraid your daughter is under a strong Confundus charm-" 

"I am not!" Ginny yelled. 

"Poor child doesn't even see it," Lucius said. "My son explained it all to me. He was riding his broom over the muggle establishment by our Manor when he saw young Ginny wandering around looking lost. He of course knew the Wizarding World was looking for her but he also knew he wasn't supposed to be flying where muggles could see him. He was worried about getting caught so he put the poor child on the Knight Bus. He said the poor dear started struggling against him saying that she'd just escaped. It's my guess that she was placed under a Confundus Charm that made her believe the first Wizard she saw kidnapped her." 

"That's not true at all!" Ginny protested, "I have letters that I wrote from the Manor. I can tell you the layout of their Manor. And I have his son's wand. I stupified him and took it!" Ginny couldn't believe this was happening. Fudge surely couldn't believe _Lucius Malfoy over her farther. _

"Letters?" Lucius said and Ginny could swear she saw his eyes flicker with worry. 

"Yes Letters you kidnapper!" Ginny said pointing a finger. 

"Now Ginny," Percy said, "Mr. Malfoy said you have a confundus charm on you. I think that's a feasible possibility." 

"I can't believe you!" she called turning on Percy, "How could you believe Lucius over me!" 

"Now Ginny," Lucius said, "I understand you have some very horrid memories of me at the moment but I assure you I was only trying to help. You have my son's wand you say? May I see it?" 

"No!" Ginny said protectively clutching the wand, "You're going to come up with some excuse why I have it. I know it's Draco's wand!" 

"Well I fear I've been framed of something," Lucius said turning to Fudge, "At first I thought it was just random but apparently this kidnapper wanted Ms. Weasley to believe it was my son and me all along. It wouldn't be difficult to discover the characteristics of my son's wand. Apparently they went through the trouble of re-creating it and giving it to Ms. Weasley. I'm even willing to bet they deposited Ms. Weasley in York just to frame us." 

"May I see the letters you mentioned?" Fudge questioned holding out his hand. 

"No!" Ginny cried, tears now brimming on her eyes 

"Now child," Lucius said quietly, "Those letters could help us find the real kidnapper." 

"You don't have to look very far! You're right here!" she screamed, tears now streaming freely down her face. 

"Ginny darling," Arthur said, "I believe you but let the Minister see one of the letters. Perhaps he can tell that it's real." 

Still sobbing Ginny handed Fudge a letter. 

"Oh look Cornelius," Lucius said looking over Fudge's shoulder, "You can see how untidy this is. I bet she was fighting the Imperius Curse." 

"No!" Ginny sobbed, "No that's untidy because I had just been raped, I was shaken." 

"I'm very sorry that your daughter has these memories Arthur," Fudge said, "But Lucius has been searching for Ginny since you came in and reported her missing." 

"Because he's the one who kidnapped me! He knew where I was the whole time! 

"Calm down!" Lucius said, "I assure you Ms. Weasley, I have done nothing of the sort. I am in fact delighted to see you home safe. Really Arthur," he said turning to Mr. Weasley, "I think you should teach your children better manners." 

"I am sorry for my sister's behavior," Percy spoke up, "But the girl has been through a lot." 

"Shut up Percy," Ginny said. 

"Well you'll have to excuse anyone who's facing the fact that their kidnapper may get off. Especially if she has such apparent vivid memories of what she went through. Perhaps she is hesitant to trust you due to an incident involving a diary that you gave her." Arthur stated curtly. Ginny let out a fresh wave of sobs at the memory of being possessed by Tom. She couldn't believe Mr. Malfoy was getting off with hurting her again. 

"But I have other proof!" Ginny said, "Draco's been gone this whole last week and two nights ago. I saw him when he was escaping, he had Death Eater robes on!" she cried desperately, "And when I got home Dad told me there had been muggle attacks and a Death Eater attack on the Diggorys!" 

"Nonsense!" Fudge said. 

"Actually Cornelius," Lucius spoke up, "the girl may be onto something. Whoever was doing those attacks was also holding Ms. Weasley captive." 

"No!" she cried, "No it was you, it was you," Finally she turned to her father and started to sob into his robes, "It was him Daddy, don't let him get away with doing this to me again. Please, I know I'm not under a Confundus charm, I know what really happened to me! I do, it was Draco he raped me. He did, so many times I've lost count." 

"I believe you sweety," Mr. Weasley said lightly patting Ginny's head, "I know what you say is true," 

"Arthur I thought you had more sense then to fall for a Confundus charm," Fudge spoke up. 

"And I thought you were better than falling for Lucius and his Wizarding Gold!" Ginny yelled with her face still burrowed in her father's robes. 

"What's wrong with your neck child?" Fudge asked ignoring Ginny's comment. 

"Bite marks," she said turning to face Fudge her eyes bright once more. Surely Fudge couldn't ignore something so plainly Draco's, "Draco Malfoy bit down my neck when he caught me while I was trying to escape, but I kneed him, grabbed his wand and got out," she said. 

"That's preposterous!" Lucius suddenly said, "You can't possibly believe that can you Cornelius?" 

"No, of course not Lucius," he said then turned to Arthur, "I'm sorry Arthur, I assure you we will find the person that did this to your daughter." 

"Don't bother wasting any of the Ministries resources on it." Arthur replied, "I know who the real kidnapper is." And with that he turned, pulling a sobbing Ginny behind him. 

Percy followed them saying, "Now Father, don't you think it's at least possible that Ginny is under a confundus charm and was under _Imperio when she wrote those letters?" _

"Shut up Percy!" Ginny yelled when they were only half way through Celia's room, "I can't believe you are saying that. I have bite marks down my neck from that, that Death Eater's horrid son! His son raped me countless times and you want me to believe that I'm under a Confundus?" 

"I'm just saying it's a possibility Ginny." Percy said calmly. Ginny only glared at Percy. 

"Percy why don't you go to work while I take your sister home," Arthur spoke up. 

"Well I am needed at the office," Percy said, "I should be going." Ginny only shot her brother a death glare before allowing Arthur to lead her back down the staircases and corridors to the lobby. 

"The Burrow!" Ginny called stepping into the fireplace. 

Ginny tumbled into the family room of the Burrow a few seconds later. 

"Ginny!" Harry called, "You're back! What happened to Mr. Malfoy? Is Draco in trouble too? They've at least expelled him right?" 

"No," Ginny said wiping a few remaining tears from her eyes, "he found a way to weasel out of it." 

"Excuse me?" Fred asked. 

"Did I hear you correctly?" George spoke up. 

"Yes, he got off," Mr. Weasley said who had just tumbled through the fireplace next to Ginny. 

"But we had the letters!" Ron exclaimed. 

"Well Lucius covered all his tracks." 

"I'm going to beat Draco into a bloody pulp!" Ron said. 

"I'm going to help," Harry chimed in. For once Hermione didn't try to stop the boys from fighting. 

"Come on Fred," George said, "Let's go work on those hexing quills. I think Draco Malfoy might be in need of one." Mrs. Weasley made no move to stop her boys. 

"Oh Ginny, I'm sorry dear," Mrs. Weasley spoke up. 

"Even if he didn't get in trouble with the law, we'll be sure he gets in trouble with us," Ron promised. Ginny just looked around at all her family. She was so glad to be home and have everyone supporting her. However, that didn't change her mind about how grossly unfair what had just transpired was. 

"We should be going to King's Cross if we want to catch the train," Mrs. Weasley said, "Fred, George, you're coming with us right?" 

"Yeah Mum. We want to say goodbye to Ron," George spoke up; though Ginny guessed they were secretly selling things from the Weasley's Wizards Wheeze to students boarding the train. 

"I should be getting back to work," Arthur said raising his wand to Apparate out. 

"Can I go with you Mum?" Ginny said. She didn't fancy being home alone once more. 

"If you like," Mrs. Weasley said slowly, "But you realize you may see Draco Malfoy there." Ginny paused, was she ready to see Malfoy already? Of course she was. He wouldn't dare come near her when she was around all of her brothers. Besides, she wanted Malfoy to see that he didn't harm her. She was bigger and better than anything he could ever do to her. 

"I'll be fine," she said wiping the tears still on her face away. 

~ 

Draco sat watching the scenery go by. He hated muggle traffic, it always seemed that no matter how early you left there was always a back up somewhere. Oh well, maybe if he was lucky he would get stuck long enough to miss the train up to Hogwarts and then he could delay going for another week when the next Express left. He was not looking forward to his return to Hogwarts. First of all, he knew Ginny's brother and Potter wouldn't believe the Confundus charm nonsense and that they would go out of their way to make his life a living hell. Not that they didn't normally, but he figured now it was going to be especially vicious. And the other thing, he was not looking forward to seeing Ginny. He couldn't believe the little tramp had been playing him for so long. Yet deep down, _very deep down, he knew he would miss her. He loved waking up next to her and comforting her when she was lonely. He loved the way her red hair would spread out on the pillow next to him or fan out on his chest. He would miss having her naked body pressed so close to his, or how she would let him take her twice a night if he liked. And all of that was just an act. She had never actually adored him, never even really liked him. In fact, she had most likely hated him, but it almost hurt to think of that. He refused to believe his Ginny actually __hated him. She was too sweet to hate anyone, let alone him. __Yeah right, he thought, __Fat chance. He sighed; he supposed his mother was right in saying he felt betrayed. Well at least he still had something, he had taken her virginity. That was his and his alone. He had once heard someone say that no one can really take that from you. They had claimed that only __you are allowed to give it to someone. Well Ginny had given it to him, when she bargained with him to let her have that open window and if not that very first time, than one of the many times after that**, when she had ceased to struggle against him. He still had that. Even if he wasn't allowed to go near Ginny, and would most likely never be alone in a room with her again, he could rest assured****, knowing that a part of her would always belong**** belonged to him. It was something she could never give to Potter. **_

Much to Draco's dismay, the ride did end with plenty of time to get onto the platform. 

"Come along Draco," his mother said when he didn't make a move to get out of the car. 

"I don't want to go back to school," he whined. 

Mrs. Malfoy sighed. Part of her felt bad for her son. He didn't have many good friends at school. Those two cronies were rather limited company if they were anything like their fathers. 

"Draco I know you don't like school," she spoke up, getting back into the car and sitting down next to him, "Honestly your father didn't like it very much either. He won't admit to it but he wasn't fond of Hogwarts. It's simply something you have to do." 

"Can't I go to Durmstrang?" he pouted. 

"No," Mrs. Malfoy said firmly, "You have to go to Hogwarts." 

"Mother please, just let me stay a week." 

"Draco you're acting like a child!" she spouted, "I will not have you whining to me like you're a first year!" 

"Bu-" 

"Not buts! Now get your trunk ready." Mumbling under his breath Draco got his trunk out and the driver fetched him a trolley. Ignoring his mother as much as possible, Draco rolled his way to Platforms 9 and 10. 

~ 

The ministry had agreed to provide cars for the Weasleys. They didn't try to hide it under any false guise or Hermione being Head Girl, or Mr. Weasley working for the Ministry**, but flat out said that they wanted Harry Potter kept safe. Harry who had yet to get over his guilt over Mr. Weasley's car still roaming the forest, accepted without resistance. **

Ginny was helping people carry their trunks out to the car and making herself useful. She was so enjoying being around her massive family again. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had even owled Bill and Charlie to come home and see Ginny so she could be with all but one of her brothers. Ron objected at first and desperately tried to delay returning for another week until Fred and George pointed out, "You get Ginny all year at school." True, they were treating her somewhat like a new toy but not in the same way Malfoy had. Draco had acted like she was there to please him, but her family constantly wanted to take care of her and make sure she was okay. 

After the trunks were taken care of everyone got into the car. Arthur was in the front, with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ginny in that order, in the back. All of them were of course seated quite comfortably. 

Harry glanced at Ginny sitting all the way down the row from him, "Er," he said and checked his watch, "I forgot something," and he dashed out of the car and into the house. Those remaining in the back seat naturally shifted to occupy Harry's empty spot. Ginny watched from the car as his figure appeared in Ron's window, looked frantically around and grabbed something off Ron's desk, and then reappeared in the doorway. He ran back out to the car opened Ginny's door, and slid smiling right next to her. She looked into his hand and saw a beaten up old quill and raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. 

"It's errr," he stuttered tearing his gaze from her and looking at the quil, "My favorite quill." Ginny however, knew for certain that Ron had had a broken quill like that sitting on his desk for ages. 

They reached King's Cross well before eleven o'clock. Everyone set off to get trolleys. Harry however, was having a problem getting Hedwig's cage to fit properly on with his trunk. 

"Here," Ginny said, "let me help." Smiling, Harry handed her the cage and the group set off disappearing onto Platform 9/4. Ginny and Harry went through just as the clock hit 10:30. 

~ 

"10:30," Draco commented to his mother, "We're here early." 

"Yes," she said, "Do you need me anymore, can you see yourself onto the platform?" she asked checking her watch. 

"Yes Mother I'm fine," Draco responded going through the barrier. He didn't waste time finding Crabbe and Goyle. 

"Where we gonna sit Dray?" Crabbe asked as he hoisted both his and Draco's trunks up. 

"I don't care." Draco drawled, "let's just find an empty compartment." He headed off towards the rear of car seven with Crabbe and Goyle lagging behind. 

~ 

Ginny was following Harry and the gang while they found an empty compartment. 

"Let's just find somewhere where we can all sit," Harry suggested. 

"We're here early enough," Ron, said, "there should be plenty of empty compartments." Ginny agreed and they followed Harry into the front door of car number seven. Ginny could hardly see from behind Hedwig**'s cage and was taking to watching Hermione's feet so she could determine exactly where they were headed. She almost dropped Hedwig****'s cage and ran screaming the other way when she heard it. **

"Hello Potter," Draco Malfoy's voice drawled. 

_'Be strong,' she thought, '__Don't let him see how much you want to run.' _

"Sod off Draco!" Ron said. 

"Weasley, I just saved your little sister. You should be thankful to me," 

"You didn't save me," Ginny said quietly and lowered her eyes to glare at Draco. Inside she was practically shaking with fear. She could do this though. She could be strong. She watched his eyes narrow. 

Draco couldn't believe she was here. His father would not be happy about this. _'Oh well,' he thought, __'My father didn't say what to do if she ran smack into me,' _

"Ginny, so glad to see you safe with your family," 

"Liar!" she spat, "You wish you still had me locked in that horrid little room." 

"Ginny," he said calmly, "I'm sorry you're under that Confundus charm but I assure you I would never hurt you." 

"Just wait Draco Malfoy," Ginny responded in a deadly whisper, "You'll get what's coming to you." 

"I hope I'm greatly rewarded for helping you home too Ginny," Draco said pleasantly. 

"No," she said still whispering, "you'll get what you deserve. I don't know when or how, but I hope I'll play a part in it." saying so, she gently set down Hedwig's cage and walked off the train her shoulders squared. Draco watched her go his mouth slightly open. This wasn't his pet. 

If only Ginny and Draco knew what lay in their futures--together. 

**THE END**

_(well, at least until the sequel--)_

**A/N**: Well that's it! I'm done with this story. I'm rather proud of that. This is the longest piece of fiction I've finished. I haven't a clue when the sequel will be out. I want to write most of the key events before I post the first chapter. It could be out anywhere from the end of November to February. I'm a bit tired of Ginny/Draco and although I have the general plot figured out, no enriching ideas are coming to me. I'll post another chapter to this story to tell you that the sequel is posted. Of course, there will be an e-mail sent out to all who want it. Please put your e-mail address in your review if you would like to receive the update notice. I think the sequel's name will be 'The Dragon's Reality' but that's subject to change. In the meantime, you can read my other story (which I have yet to stop pushing, and never will) _Perfectly Dark_. Also, read Barb's fiction at www.fictionalley.com. It's very good and will take you at least two weeks to get through all she has written.


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